There was a time I loathed visiting people in the hospita
l. Part of it was because of the unrealistic training that I receive in the seminary. Of course you could not dress like a priest and we were sent into people’s rooms without warning to offer prayer or conversation or whatever. Once there was a lady who had just had a total mastectomy. I walked in and said hello and tried to explain who I was when she started yelling at me to get out - shouting something about shiftless men who did this to her. That is where I got this case of fear of going to hospitals. Unless I had every bit of information including which bed the patient was in and was sure that the person wanted to see a priest I would go in shaking.
Times have changed. First, because of the hippo laws (if that is how the word is spelled, I hear about it all the time but don’t remember seeing it spelled) I cannot go into someone’s room unless I have been invited. In fact, the hospital cannot even tell me that you are in their facility without your expressed consent.
Secondly the situation from the seminary was a bit of a false taste of the ministry. One of the great things about being a priest in a parish is that you get to know people. I am not dropping in on a stranger but someone I see on a regular basis and with whom I have some kind of relationship. And more than likely they want to see me. Many times they are waiting to see me (or at least “a priest.”)
To that last point here is a common scenario from an event this past week. A call came in that somebody needs to be anointed. The information is taken down and jump in the priestmobile head out to Akron City. Parking at Akron City is now so complicated that I park a block away and just walk there.
l. Part of it was because of the unrealistic training that I receive in the seminary. Of course you could not dress like a priest and we were sent into people’s rooms without warning to offer prayer or conversation or whatever. Once there was a lady who had just had a total mastectomy. I walked in and said hello and tried to explain who I was when she started yelling at me to get out - shouting something about shiftless men who did this to her. That is where I got this case of fear of going to hospitals. Unless I had every bit of information including which bed the patient was in and was sure that the person wanted to see a priest I would go in shaking.Times have changed. First, because of the hippo laws (if that is how the word is spelled, I hear about it all the time but don’t remember seeing it spelled) I cannot go into someone’s room unless I have been invited. In fact, the hospital cannot even tell me that you are in their facility without your expressed consent.
Secondly the situation from the seminary was a bit of a false taste of the ministry. One of the great things about being a priest in a parish is that you get to know people. I am not dropping in on a stranger but someone I see on a regular basis and with whom I have some kind of relationship. And more than likely they want to see me. Many times they are waiting to see me (or at least “a priest.”)
To that last point here is a common scenario from an event this past week. A call came in that somebody needs to be anointed. The information is taken down and jump in the priestmobile head out to Akron City. Parking at Akron City is now so complicated that I park a block away and just walk there.
I go up to the room and there is a lady in bed surrounded by her family. I chat with her husband and it turns out that he is not Catholic. I invite them all to pray with me and we anoint her and give her the apostolic pardon. She is, compared to how she had been, unusually responsive, opening her eyes and feebly trying to make the responses and gestures. Almost by the time I make it home she has passed. “She must have been waiting for that,” I was informed. And that is not unusual. Some people wait for certain relatives, some to be alone, some for a date, and some to be anointed. And it is a blessing to be able to be the one who brings Christ to someone at this important moment.
7 comments:
Father,
"HIPPA" stands for "The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996."
And indeed, HIPPA is like the hippo about which Fr. Benedict Groeschel speaks: big, slow, ugly, and mostly underwater.
Due to HIPPA, I couldn't even get the barest of information about some of my relatives whom I'd visit periodically. In one case, when visiting my aunt who was non-verbal due to a stroke, the nurse had to come into her room with me and ask her (in my presence) if it would be OK to share information with me about her condition. She nodded "yes."
Ironically, it's very easy to get "on the short list" when the patient is first admitted. But if you miss your opportunity . . . .
I was amazed that you were taught that you shouldn't make a hospital visit 'looking like a priest'. Aren't priests required to wear clerical clothes when acting in the line of duty for the Church? Is it really proper to wear casual clothes when administering the Anointing of the Sick in the hospital? Some people have severely criticized priests who have done that.
Margaret Comstock
M.C. - I should have been more clear - we weren't preists yet - just seminarians and at a seminary that would not allow seminarians to wear any distinctive garb.
Oh I see. That does make a difference........
MC
Oh I see. That does make a difference........
MC
I'm a substitute to take Communion to a nursing home which asks for religion at admission and whether the person wants to be included on a list to be provided to the priest, nun and laity bringing communion at various times, then provides us with updated lists. The list is a moving target as people transition from independent apartments to assisted living or the nursing home and others come for rehab. The constant is that the list is updated and we can still find them.
I'm not terribly comfortable with it, but I'd want someone to bring Communion to me if I were in the nursing home.
Thanks Pat!
Post a Comment