Editor's note: This is the second in a three part series examining health and religion in Athens. Tomorrow's story will focus on alternative medicine practices at Ohio University.
You walk in and you don't know anyone
said Pastor Willard Love, a volunteer chaplain at O'Bleness Memorial Hospital, 55 Hospital Dr. You don't know anyone in the family. You don't know the person who is deceased and you try and provide pastoral care. It is very difficult.
O'Bleness and Doctors Hospital, 1950 Mt. St. Mary Dr. in Nelsonville, provide spiritual support for their patients in the form of hospital chaplains. O'Bleness employs a part time permanent chaplain, Rev. Paul Van Horn, and both hospitals organize a network of volunteers from local pastors to provide emergency support.
Love said the hospital calls him into the emergency room after a tragic accident. The hospital staff briefs him on the situation and asks him to break the news to family members that their relative has been hurt or killed.
Calls can come anytime day or night. Death has no time table
Love said.
During a stressful situation many people turn to a clergyman, said Rhonda Barnhart, nurse manager of the OB center. But in a hospital situation, especially in an emergency room case or when a patient's health takes a sudden turn for the worst -
Van Horn said.
O'Bleness' chaplain program also has a business side.
On the hospital's patient satisfaction questionnaire, one question asks patients if they have had their emotional and spiritual needs met during their stay. The results of the survey are compared with similar sized hospitals across the nation and other competing hospitals in the area, Llewellyn said.
Since O'Bleness instituted the chaplaincy program, scores for this question have increased.
I think that the general public is educated to the fact that the spiritual side of their care is as important as the physical side. Their expectations have increased
she said.
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