Journal of Sacred Work

Days 59-60 "Live Long and Prosper"

The world mourns the loss of a great person, Leonard  Nimoy. I wish to honor his memory by sharing this video of  Nimoy as he shares his marvelous story. Apparently, Nimoy's  parents  were Orthodox Jews and immigrated  from  Iziaslav, Soviet Union in 1931. Nimoy's cultural and religious Heritage was very meaningful to him. Listen, enjoy and offer a blessing for Leonard Nimoy.

Stories are magical aren't they? They resonate on the level of our human experience more so than our thinking brain. Star Trek stimulated our hearts as well as our minds. They wrestled with the darkness in pursuit of light. They struggled with ethical dilemmas and navigated through the difficulties to arrive at the best decision. Interestingly, the character that Nimoy portrayed, Spock, emulated the logical thought processes as an observer of the human condition. Yet deep within, as much as he tried to deny and push it away was human emotion.  This made for a fascinating character.

What a delight to learn of Nimoy’s early experience within his own spiritual tradition and upbringing. On that memorable day when he dared to look, who knew it would leave such an indelible impression or that this magnificent thread would manifest in such an astounding way. You might say as a prevailing, guiding force, a sign, a knowing that surpasses understanding, made manifest in a story.  

 Liz Sorensen Wessel

Days 54-58 - The Popsicle & The Mayo Clinic

   "We're all so busy chasing the extraordinary that we forget to stop and be grateful for the ordinary." - Brene Brown

   One winter night in 1905 eleven-year-old Frank Epperson made an ordinary mistake. After fixing himself a Kool-Aid-like soda he accidentally left it outside. 

   The next morning, although disappointed by his forgetfulness, he decided to lick the frozen remains. It was delicious. 

   Thousands of others may have done the same thing that. But, little Frank was the only one who recognized that Mother Nature had handed him a giant opportunity.

   Then he did another even more extraordinary thing. He kept his invention secret until 1923 when he secured a patent for his "Popsicle." (Epperson wanted to name his invention "Epp's icicles." But, his kids named it after their dad, who they called "Pop.")

   In the intervening eighteen years from discovery to application no one else recognized the potential in converting a frozen drink into world-renown treat. Thus, Frank Epperson changed the world.

   Every great invention starts with a creative observation of the ordinary and is realized through persistence.

   In 1889, amid the freezing winters of Rochester, a pair of brothers did not think up the Popsicle. Their creation was the Mayo Clinic. Their integrated practice model is repeatedly ranked number one in the country.

   But, the Mayo Clinic is more than a great medical center. The "Mayo Way" supports one of the most compassionate care models ever created & the Clinic is ranked as one of the nation's best places to work.

   The Popsicle & the Mayo Clinic. Two examples of creating the extraordinary out of the ordinary. 

   Maybe that is true of Radical Loving Care - the application in healthcare of a two-thousand-year-old idea - love one another no matter what.

-Erie Chapman. 

Days 52-53 The Ballerina

Please Note: This guest essay was written  by my colleague Brian Beichner RN

This reflection is my personal advice to the nurse that has to deal with the loss or potential loss of a patient. My advice is simple, talk to your patient, always. I talk to them on their good days, we talk when they feel off, I have whispered in their ear as they pass, and I still talk to them when they are gone, while preparing  their body for their last journey in this world.

We will call her Dee because she deserves more than “her” or a “she” in this memory. Dee was my mom’s name, so it is as good as any for the fictitious name of this patient. Dee was near comatose when I met her. She was mute, bedbound, and receiving most of her meals through a straw. I was to bathe her, administer medications, feed her, and chart her vitals. I did this routinely for a week until it began to feel empty. Her family told me that she hadn’t responded to them in months and that she was already gone but her body would not let go. I was relatively new to nursing at the time, so I took them by their word and performed my daily duties.

Between my duties, I would observe the lovely art around the room with detailed canvas paintings bright with emotion and life. Some full of joy, others more sad or somber, but all very real even down to the brush stroke. The family had informed me that Dee had painted them all, over 60 paintings in the house, not to mention those stored in the attic. Later while caring for Dee, I told her how much I loved her paintings, particularly the one of the ballerina. I wasn't sure but I thought she smiled, but I dismissed it and carried on with my duties.

This became my new routine with Dee; I would tell her how I felt about each of her paintings while I cared for her. I never heard much from her except for the occasional moan when I had to change her position. I talked about nearly all of them but my favorite was the teal clad ballerina dancing in the pond. One day while feeding her I shared with her that I told my friend about her paintings because she was a ballerina. Dee smiled and in the softest voice I ever heard told me, “I was a dancer, I love to dance.” She smiled for a few seconds longer and then her smile faded back to blank. This remained the only time she ever spoke to me.

I cared for Dee for three more weeks before I was transferred to another patient assignment. I always talked about her paintings while I cared for her but we never had another moment like the one discussed. However, I always felt like I could see warmth in her eyes from that day forward. I don’t know if it is true or if she even really talked to me. Sometimes I wonder if it was all in my head but I will never forget the bond that was created between Dee and I on that day and how it changed my nursing career forever. I always talk to my patients, especially when they cannot seem to be “checked in”. I think it is vital that a nurse say connected with their patient in any way they can.

Dee died at the age of 97 about 3 months later, or so I was told. I don’t know if she ever knew that I was with her but she remains with me in every patient I care for. I always look for the stories on the walls of my patient’s room. I search for the “ballerina” within each patient. I hope that someday, if I am stuck in the same state of in between, someone will search for me at the time I need to be found most.

Thank you Brian Beichner RN for sharing such an incredibly moving experience with us. Special thanks as well to artist, Anne Milligan whose painting compliments this narrative like a glove to hand. This painting was not created by Dee, yet it is Divine reflection of her spirit. Thank you, Anne!

Liz Sorensen Wessel

 

Days 47-51 - Conversations With Dad

   Last week I spoke with my dad. Mid-sentence he interrupted me using that stern voice I have known since childhood. "Remember, Chip, two glasses of wine is one too many." 

   "Good God, Dad" I told him. "I'm old enough to decide how much to drink."

   "If you are so wise, why did you drink three glasses last night?" he laughed, a joyful sound I have also known since I sat in his lap seventy years ago.

   Of course, my dad died twenty years ago. But, I hear his strong voice every day.

   Recently, I decided to make it a two-way conversation instead of just listening. It is comforting. I generally know what he would say but I ask questions anyway.

   So many voices live in you - people you love who are "gone." It can feel lonely.

   Why not populate your heart's community with people you love but are either long gone or simply away on a trip. 

   In fact, when I lie in bed at night I conduct private conversations with my distant children and others I love. 

   After the legendary George Burns' equally famous wife, Gracie Allen, died he visited her grave every day. There he conducted extended conversations with her. She often made him laugh.

   Some people called him crazy. George ignored them. He loved talking with his best friend.

   Caregivers know that the dying often spot those who have gone before. Some offer a welcoming wave. 

   I know doctors who still hear the voice of long-dead professors. One said, "I like to call up Dr. Robinson's reassuring voice before surgery." Another said he asks Jesus how to calm his anxiety & Jesus responds.

   The older you become, the more people will leave you for another consciousness. Why not check in with them every so often? You can pick who you want to engage.

   Most ghosts are glad to help. Maybe the dead will teach you something new. Best of all, maybe they will brighten your life with the warmth of their companionship.

   Last Sunday, my youngest granddaughter was Christened amid the snowy world of Boston. Beforehand she sat in my son's lap gazing at her brother & my daughter's son & daughter.

   After I leave this world I hope each of them will keep talking to me. I would love hearing from them. So would my dad. 

-Reverend Erie Chapman

Days 45 - 46 The Wonder of Our Lives

 

 

 

This excerpt from e. e. cumming's poem is a favorite. We have a singular purpose in life. We may look far and wide but we carry a simple truth.  The root of the root; stay grounded in what matters. 

Happy Valentine’s Day! 

~liz

Days 40-44 - The Day Laughter Helped Healing

    A child laughs. Everyone feels better. But, can laughter actually help cure illness? Some doctors think so.

   Carole Williams had nothing to laugh about on the morning she awoke with no feeling in her feet. She & her husband Stu went to the doctor.

   After examination the physician's face bore that grim expression no patient wants to see. “You have Guillain-Barré Syndrome,” he told Carole.

   Was that one of your childhood nightmares: To be completely paralyzed, unable to speak, drowning in your own body?

   That is the future Carole’s physician described. “The numbness in your toes will rise up your legs. In a few days you will be paralyzed from the waist down. Next your upper body will numb. Then, you will be unable to move except, perhaps, to blink.”

   Carole's next year was agonizing until one afternoon a therapist appeared, He offered brief freedom.

  “We are going to place a device in your throat," the therapist said. As you exhale, you can say one sentence. Let me know when you are ready by blinking your eyes.”

   She blinked. The device was inserted. 

   Her husband waited expectantly. Which of the thousands of wishes his wife had bottled up would pour forth?

   Carole exhaled her sentence. It sounded to Stu like, “Gedamihrablegeeblaurhbla.”

   “Are you trying to say you love me?” Stu asked.

   Carole blinked no.

   “Are you trying to say you love our kids? Again, Carole blinked a no.

   “Let’s try again,” the therapist offered.

   This time, Carole sputtered three words, “Get my hairdresser!”

   When patients are bedridden small things become big. Great caregivers understand.

   But soon after this incident Carole's body pivoted towards health (Subsequently, she experienced a ninety-nine percent recovery.) Did laughter help tip the scales? 

   Carole and Stu tell & retell this story. Each time, they roar with their audience about that magic moment when laughter illuminated their darkest hours. 

-Erie Chapman

Days 38-39 Where God Hides

"We have to remind ourselves constantly that we are not saviors. We are simply a tiny sign, among thousands of others, that love is possible, that the world is not condemned to a struggle between oppressors and oppressed, that class and racial warfare is not inevitable.” -Jean Vanier

In the American healthcare landscape, we recognize that expensive care does not guarantee quality. There is tremendous waste in our system, care is often fragmented and impersonal, and our outcomes are less than stellar. The latest buzz word is patient-centered care. However, as I learned about Hogewek Village in the Netherlands, this concept took on a whole new meaning.

In 1992, Yvonne Van Amergon received a dreaded call. Her father had died suddenly of a heart attack. At the time, she was working in a nursing home. She comforted herself with the thought that at least he did not end up in a nursing home. This also left her with the unsettling question of why? What could be done to transform a nursing home into a place someone might want to live in?

She shared her thoughts with a few colleagues and they brainstormed ideas about alternative  living situations. Overtime, the nursing home was redesigned into Hogewek Village; a gated community for people living with advanced dementia. What makes this village unique, and the only one of its kind world-wide, is a reverence for human dignity.

At Hogewek, the 152 residents share homes with people who have similar interests. Each of the 23 homes is distinguished by lifestyle themes, such as; city life, working man, aristocratic, spiritual, country, etc. The residents are actively engaged in daily life. They help with grocery shopping cooking, washing and typical household management. These activities include exercise, music and community living, which are all regenerative in nature.

There are no locks on any of the house doors and residents are free to come and go about the village as they wish. They can go on walks and breathe in fresh air, feel the sun upon their faces and notice the changing of the seasons. The village has a town square, park, theater, grocery store, café, garden, post office and a pub. The shops are run by caregivers who work as cashiers, hair dressers, neighbors and the like. All of the caregivers are specially trained in dementia care. They dress in street clothes rather than uniforms and the ratio of patients to caregivers is 2:1 with 24 hour care and supervision.

To avoid unnecessary frustrations residents do not have to worry about paying for things because it is included in their monthly rent. The cost to live at Hogewek is comparable to a typical nursing home and the facilities are all government funded. Safety is of utmost concern. The elevators have door sensors so a person does not have to remember to push a button.

The goal of Hogewek Village is to create a sense of normalcy for residents, nurture a sense of community and enjoyment of life. Thus far, the people living in this community require less medication and tend to live longer, happier lives.  In the future, Hogewek would like to enlarge their accommodations so that a patient’s partner could live at the village too. Switzerland has plans underway to develop a similar community that is scheduled to open in 2018. I hope the innovation of Hogewek Village expands far and wide and is adopted in our country.

"These people also show their 'helpers' their capacity for love, the forces of love in their hearts. A poor person has a mysterious power: in his weakness he is able to open hardened hearts and reveal the sources of living water within them. It is the tiny hand of the fearless child which can slip through the bars of the prison of egoism. He is the one who can open the lock and set free. And God hides himself in the child.” -Jean Vanier

Days 33-37 - What Books Changed Your Life?

   It was the most exciting gift I can remember. It arrived in a small, beige cardboard box in 1951. I pried the flap open & slid the book out to reveal the hidden cover slowly. What would the title be?

   The yellow Landmark label emerged along with the magic words: "The Pony....Express." 

   I jumped on my bed, propped my head on my hand & stared at the cover. A daring rider, saddlebags full of mail, guns blazing, galloped towards me. 

   This was sure to be a life-changing adventure. It was.

   Every month after that another thrilling biography appeared: Lee & Grant at Appomattox, Clara Barton, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Commodore Perry & the Opening of Japan, Santa Fe Trail.

    As each book spilled into my life they changed it. Every one sent a message of hope - the chance to live a meaningful life like the heroes on the cover.

   From earliest childhood books also built relationships - leaning against my mother as she read Billy Goats Gruff, Snip Snap & Snurr & The Red Shoes - feeling the weight of my father's body as he lay next to me in bed, his deep voice telling tales he created. 

   It is stories that alter our lives. That is as true today as it was when you were a child. Which ones have shaped your life? 

   In the later chapters of my own book I remember the joy of my earliest - the times when I dreamed of the man I might become & how I would pioneer my own path through the forest.

   One thing I learned? Your life matters if you can enrich just the stories of those around you. 

   What tales will you & I yet create that will change lives?

-Erie Chapman