My Thoughts on Spirituality and Hospice Care

by Rabbi Dr. Chaim Joseph Wender, F.LBC
Rabbinical Coordinator, Hospice of Palm Beach County

It was during the Jewish High Holy Days, last year, that I had the privilege of hearing a rabbinic colleague preaching on the theme of, “How Should We, As Jews, Respond to the Current Economic Vicissitudes? The sermon culminated with the thought that, as Jews, we should respond to the current adversity just as we had responded to so many troubling challenges and crises throughout our long history—namely, with hope. Subsequently, as I mused upon the rabbi’s urging, I realized that is essentially how we, as hospice professionals , must endeavor to help our patients and their families, namely, with a reframing of hope.

To my mind, pastoral care in the hospice setting, is the quintessential spiritual care. By definition, our patients and their families cannot realistically hope for the conventional medical outcome of cure. However, our patients and their families and our staff can and do, indeed, aspire to achieve an outcome of healing—healing of pain and suffering, on the physical, emotional and spiritual levels.

Our highly trained, experienced and caring interdisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses, certified nursing assistants, social workers, chaplains, music therapists, massage therapists and bereavement counselors, working in tandem, bring an array of skills to address the needs and concerns of our patients and their loved ones. From the earliest stage of admission, through the aftermath of bereavement, our teams patiently, perseveringly and unwaveringly strive to help those in greatest need to understand and accept the reality of the situation with which they are confronted, and to find the shalom, the peace of mind and body and spirit, that will lead them to find reasons for affirmation even as they journey through the valley of the shadow. And above all, as they venture on this journey, they know that they are not, and will not be, alone.

Specifically, as chaplains, or pastoral counselors, we apply a variety of techniques in our spiritual caring of our hospice patients and their families. Our spiritual caring begins with supportive presence and listening actively, with care and interest. We encourage the patients, and or their loved ones, to engage in reviewing the life of the patient, with a view to achieving the recognition that there is far more here than meets the eye. The frail, often elderly, individual before us, has experienced many days and years of well-being and meaningful life, of blessings received and shared, that we dare not forget. For through remembrance of the good times and the good works and the joys that have preceded, fear and tears and self-pity and regret can begin to give way to gratitude, and gratitude is a key to healing of wounded hearts and spirits. With gratitude, this unique ministry can then proceed, logically, and with assent, to scriptural reference and prayers. And, as we open the mind and heart to the comfort and solace of prayer and holy writ, we are reminded of the God who is with us in all seasons of life and health. This is the God who will be continue to be with us in the final chapters of our Book of Life, even as that God was with us in the beginning, and throughout our earthly sojourn. Hence, we may find a sacred text, such as Psalm 121, to be particularly apt in this context: “The Lord will guard your going and your coming, now and for evermore.”

For more information about the pastoral care programs available through Hospice of Palm Beach County, please visit www.hpbc.com or call (561) 848-5200.