Chaplains serve on front lines of empathy

Charles Potter Jr. lies in hospice, his breathing labored, when chaplain resident Ruth Zollinger gently places her hand on his shoulder and greets him.

"Last time, we prayed for you," she says softly. She strokes his forehead. "Everyone's here to support you."

At the window, chaplain resident Catherine Toronto asks the 86-year-old man's daughter, Tammy Wilkerson, how she and Zollinger might serve her.

Wilkerson says the family's doing OK. But after 15 days in the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center following her dad's heart attack, the Lapoint, Uintah County, mother misses home. She misses work. She shares a photograph of her dad from days long past. She doesn't want him to die alone.

"Did it help to have a prayer last time we were here?" Toronto asks.

Wilkerson, whose father is not religious, pauses. "Well," she says, "it helps me."

That's what the chaplains are hoping for.

On Thursday, 13 chaplains graduated from the Clinical Pastoral Education program at the Veterans Affairs' Salt Lake City Health Care System. The VA program, which began last September, is conducted through the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy.

Graduates represent a range of faiths: Protestant, Buddhist, Mormon. One is a Roman Catholic priest. A handful of the graduates already have received national certification, and several others are working on it, said chaplain Mark Allison, training supervisor.

"My job is to build interfaith chaplains that can serve in any environment, anywhere...to bring hope and compassion, and aid in (the) healing process," Allison said. "Doctors and nurses care for broken bones and body systems but not the broken heart, not a troubled relationship, not for grief and bereavement that have precipitated emotional problems. That's what the chaplains do."

Chaplains don't preach, but they do pray with patients and families who want to. The chaplains seek out a person who can pray in the family's faith tradition, if the family prefers that.

At the VA hospital, chaplain residents walk from room to room, introducing themselves to patients and asking if they would like to visit.

"We're not missionaries, we're not proselytizers, we're not social workers," says Toronto, who, like Zollinger, has about six months of study left in the program. "We facilitate spirituality, not religion."

The chaplains strive to offer a listening ear, kindness and service. Not all patients want to share. But some patients who send chaplains away call them back.