“Calm me in my anxiety, Comfort me in my pain”
Five members of our Congregation are Volunteer Chaplaincy Visitors - Ann Anderson, Ishbel Blair, Margaret Fraser, Ena Gatenby, Margaret Tipping, assigned by the NHS Trust to Hospitals in Newcastle.
A visitor has to attend two training days before becoming a visitor. Visitors are required to have police vetting and MRSA and TB screening. They are given the opportunity to attend further on-going training and workshops of appropriate subjects including worldwide religions and ethnic minorities. At the end of their training two Hospital Chaplains interview them. Those who are successful will discuss ward placements with the Chaplains. An Induction Service for successful candidates is held in the Chapel of one of the three hospitals when the new visitors can enjoy the support of other visitors.
There are seven Chaplains, several of whom work on a part-time basis, of various denominations to cover the three city hospitals, i.e. the Freeman, Newcastle General and the Royal Victoria Infirmary. The Rev. Nigel Goodfellow is the senior Chaplain. There are not sufficient Chaplains to cover the Trust’s Hospitals nor are there enough volunteer chaplaincy visitors to cover each ward in the Trust.
A role of each visitor is to liaise between the patient and Chaplain. A patient may request Holy Communion or a chat with a Chaplain or, indeed, to have the Chaplain pray for them. A visitor may be asked to pray with a patient and, of course, can prepare in advance for this. There is a need for confidentiality; every patient needs to feel certain that their privacy is not ignored and that they will not be talked about with other patients. Before starting to visit the wards, the visitors sign in. There is a time for prayer and reflection either before or after visiting; this is a valuable time, which takes place in the hospital’s Chapel.
The visitors work in their own individual way, each deals with a situation in different ways, and each brings a different attribute. They are clear about their role in the busy life of a hospital ward. They are there to listen to the patient and hear what is being said to them; they give the patients the opportunity to talk if they wish. Often a patient will say they do not want to talk but then will. The visitors get different reactions from different people; it is difficult to know how they will be received. Some patients will appear to be asleep, or they may continue reading their book or newspaper. Visitors know if the patient does not want them to stop. They will acknowledge each patient but will walk away rather than push a relationship.
Visitors are not there just to talk about religion and the Church. Many patients do not want to talk about religion and visitors will not bring up the subject of religious faith; however, they will willingly talk whenever the patients themselves talk of their faith.
Our visitors feel that, apart from the need to be able to listen and hear, they also need to be able to face all situations. Some talked of now beginning to be known in their ward but that it had taken some time. If a visitor is in a ward in which she feels uncomfortable it is possible to ask for a move to another ward. There are difficult situations. What do you say to some people? The questions “Why”? “Why me”? are so difficult to answer. What to say to the patient who says “God is on holiday”! When the questions are difficult to answer, visitors can ask a Chaplain to visit to answer such questions.
Visitors get different reactions when they arrive at each bed. They will have worked out strategies about how to get conversations going by, for example, asking about a book or paper being read or, especially with men, discussing sport. The ages of the patients vary, ranging from older teenagers to the elderly. Many need someone to talk to; so many do not even have someone to visit them.
The visitors feel that they have grown into the role. Each works in her own way; each has to be herself. One who has a sense of humour uses that to create her relationships; she jokes with the patients and makes them laugh. There can be a lot of laughter and laughter is a very good medicine. Some patients have wonderful personalities and they can laugh in very difficult circumstances. There is a lovely story about a little lady who, on a St. Valentine’s Day when her ward was bedecked with flowers, cards and balloons with red hearts, had a rather poor bunch of flowers by her bedside; she admitted to her visitor that never in her life had she been given flowers and that she had paid for this bunch herself.
They all admit that it is “a joy to work” in the hospitals, going from bed to bed, meeting people who are all so different. Some visitors have, however, given up. Although people the visitors meet comment on them being ‘so good’ to do this work, that is not how they feel, rather they are amazed by how grateful so many people are for their visit. They continue to do this work because they meet and relate to people. Each time they strive to be better at their work, but they claim all they have to do is listen. They talk of their work as being a privilege.
Our thanks to this group for telling of the ever so worthwhile work that they do. Anyone interested in becoming a Volunteer Chaplaincy Visitor can discuss the work with them. They are all committed and willing to encourage others to join them.
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