I began my summer field work on May 2 at Eisenhower Hospital. I had not completed the chaplain training so I asked if I could just get started by shadowing for 3 days so I could begin to get the feel for the task as well as begin accruing hours. It was very interesting watching the various people I was with approach the patients and how they prayed. One learning for me was that we cannot do anything that falls into patient care, such as putting socks on. As a former nurse, that was hard at first. The next challenge is learning the hospital. That is complicated because the old part of the building in being retrofitted to meet earthquake codes. Fortunately,,all the staff was very helpful if I got turned around.
I was with a lead today and she had a bad back wihich required her to sit down frequently. By lunch time we still had a lot of people to see so I volunteered to go back and try to visit the people we were not able to see in the morning, as well as the observation unit. I had a wonderful time when I could be on my own. I ended up seeing 10 people in the afternoon.
It is amazing to spend that much of the day soaked in prayer. I was nervous about doing spontaneous prayer after having such a hard time with that with the COM. I guess I was just nervous with them. I asked Andrew for suggestions and they have been helpful. I do have a challenge holding names in my memory in order to say their name in prayer. I am going to have to work on a strategy for that. I need to say it before I go in the room and keep my finger on their name on the sheet.
I am going to enjoy this a great deal.
playful chaplain 