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Spiritual Care Makes Rounds in Hospital

There is a standard poster hanging on the wall of patient intake rooms in many hospital emergency rooms. Using animated faces to depict varying levels of discomfort from a smiley face to a grimace, it asks, "Are you in pain?" Hospitals excel at treating physical pain, but sometimes patients' spiritual and emotional needs are given short shrift.

At Greenwich Hospital, however, the healing process is treated holistically. Quick with a smile, Eddie Lopez, the hospital's director of spiritual care, makes what he refers to as "spirituality-in-medicine" rounds with interns and residents every two weeks. He says he helps physicians hone their sensitivity toward patients in today's multiculturally eclectic society.

"Every hospital resident, intern and medical student who interacts with patients needs to learn to put aside their personal 'baggage' based on their own life experiences," says Lopez. This the same "active listening training" taught in the hospital's continuing education course for seminarians and clergy. But it has nothing to do with religion.

The spiritual care chaplains are part of an interdisciplinary team of clinicians who holistically address the bio-psycho-social and spiritual needs of patients. And while the hospital offers a sacrament of the sick and communion to patients who request them, a different type of spiritual support is provided for non-religious cancer patients who decide to terminate chemotherapy, or to addiction recovery patients who want to explore the emotional and cultural influences on their addiction. Or, when a chronic or acute illness cannot be reversed, the spiritual care team helps the family explore their palliative care options.

"This is one thing that makes Greenwich Hospital a unique place," says Lopez. "We try to visit every patient, whether they are in the hospital with late stage cancer or a fractured ankle, and it all comes down to one thing: 'Why?' What meaning do you give this experience? What is your fear? What do you need to help you cope through this illness?"

Addressing questions such as these, says Lopez, is as critical to recovery as antibiotics and physical therapy. "We help them heal their emotional wounds," Lopez says, which is something you don't see on the animated poster.

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