A hospital stay can be an anxious and fearful time for many and even more so when family and friends can’t be there to offer comfort.
During the recent COVID-19 lockdowns, visitors were not allowed into the Northern Beaches Hospital. That’s when Anglicare chaplain, Lisa Boyd, stepped up, making sure patients had someone to talk to and even facilitating ‘virtual’ visits.
As a Christian chaplain, Lisa sees her role as someone patients can talk to when they are feeling anxious, uncertain, or confused. These emotions were compounded by the hospital’s recent ‘no visitor’ policy, she says, and provided her with many more opportunities to offer emotional, psychological, and spiritual support.
“If you’re in hospital and perhaps receiving difficult news, your family would usually be there to offer reassurance and comfort. Unfortunately, they had to do this from a distance during lockdown, sometimes for many months,” Lisa said.
Lisa facilitated ‘virtual visits’ for some of the elderly patients so they could talk to their families over Facetime. Some patients were living with cognitive impairment or dementia and couldn’t understand why their families did not visit them.
“For people to see their family members in hospital and talk to them was a really wonderful way for them to check in,” says Lisa.
The influx of COVID patients added to the pressure on hospital staff. Lisa enjoyed supporting the nursing staff by spending extended periods of time with patients, chatting with them, and sometimes helping with meals.
She says the most difficult part of her job is not knowing what happens to patients after they leave the hospital.
“I have an intense relationship with them whilst they are here because they can be in a difficult situation. I listen to them, grieve with them, get to know them and I care about what happens to them. But my contact is limited to the time they are in hospital,” she said.
Lisa was drawn to chaplaincy two years ago whilst nursing at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead in the Oncology ward. As a nurse, she was so busy that she often didn’t have the time to sit down and chat to people as much as she wanted.
“I missed the opportunity to find out what was happening in people’s heads and hearts as they were going through what must be the most significant event in any parent’s life,” she said.
As an Anglicare chaplain, Lisa offers spiritual counsel which, she says, brings a lot of comfort to a lot of people who see themselves as having a spirituality even though they may not attend church.
“A chaplain is not here to make any judgments about where people are spiritually, we are here to offer support,” says Lisa.
Lisa has seen the difference that some, “kind and gentle words,” can have on people.
“They can make a profound difference for people in their time of need and often they remember them long after they have left the hospital.”
Amanda Perry
