Chaplains aid in care at clinics in state’s NW

Program offers patients pastoral services

Monday, December 30, 2013

Anxiety and grief became a part of Dayna Kilby’s drive to work every day after the tornado that hit Joplin in 2011.

Kilby was working in the emergency room at St. John’s Mercy Regional Medical Center the night the EF-5 tornado hit the building.

A job transfer from the Joplin hospital to a Mercy clinic in Bella Vista more than a year ago changed her life, Kilby said. She said a chaplain service offered to staff members and patients at the clinic is helping her overcome her anxiety.

Mercy has eight chaplains rotating through 26 clinics in Northwest Arkansas, said John Halstead, vice president of mission and ethics for Mercy Northwest Arkansas. The health-care system hasplans to continue expanding the program so that chaplains can spend more time in each clinic.

“We understand that in the emergency room or in the ICU, chaplain services are needed but it occurred to us that 95 percent of our patients encounter [the] Mercy [network] in our clinics,” Halstead said. “It occurred to us that if 95 percent of our patients are encountering us in our clinics, then there is also a large need for pastoral services there as well.”

The program started when a Mercy Bella Vista physician, Dr. Mark Lee, secured a grant in 2011 to have a chaplain working full time out of his clinic, Bella Vista Lancashire Primary Care, Halstead said. Since then, the national Mercy network has started adding chaplains to clinics in other regions.The network has clinics in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

A presentation at the 2013 National Association of Catholic Chaplains National Conference focused on what Mercy is doing, Halstead said. He said other healthcare networks are also looking at expanding chaplain services to clinics.

Lee sought funding on his own to add a chaplain at his clinic, which became a pilot location for the program. Funding came from community organizations and even other physicians.

“In the primary-care office you have people coming in for problems such as knee pain or a stomachache,” Lee said. “A lot of times when people come in, there are other issues that they bring up at the end of the visit.”

This could be that a family member has died, they have a child addicted to drugs or they are depressed, Lee said.

“Those are not things that you want to ignore,” Lee said. “It would come up and if you want to deal with that in a responsible way, it usually takes another 30 minutes. I felt like they weren’t getting the best care and I felt like I wasn’t doing the best job. A conviction that I had was that we truly needed someone to provide pastoral care.”

Lee said he is now able to give the patients a “warm handoff.”

“A warm handoff is not that I am telling you to call someone tomorrow but that right now I have someone here to listen, to get into this more so that we can really help you.”

Kandi Mount was the chaplain that started at Lee’s office in 2011. She now rotates among several clinics in the region.

“What we do is basic ministry to the patients and to the co-workers,” Mount said. “It is a real gentle ministry of loving our patients and loving our co-workers and being there for their needs.”

Mount said she visits with people who have depression, anxiety or are in spiritual distress. They could also be going through a divorce or other difficult times in life.

When someone receives a life-changing diagnoses, such as cancer, they are also offeredan opportunity to meet with chaplains in their clinic.

“I will ask them to share with me what has just happened,” Mount said. “In that sharing it allows them a chance to repeat it themselves. Then in that circumstance I will ask them if there is someone that they need to call, do they need to call a neighbor to pick up their children from school? We talk about short-term goals and then long-term goals. Before the meeting I ask for permission to pray for them and then ask again if they need me to pray for them at the end.”

Kilby said offering chaplain services at the clinic has filtered a spiritual attitude throughout the office. She said a morning gathering is held every day in the office.She said the office staff is able to submit prayer requests at that time.

“Having the chaplain here in our clinics makes a huge difference,” Kilby said. “It is the whole practice of being in a right relationship. It is just love and support for each other. Itis what our core values are here at Mercy.”

Kilby said she still has days when she has trouble with anxiety. However, there is a team of people close by to help her through it.

“I remember one day in particular,” Kilby said. “There was a tornado warning for Joplin, and it just sent me into a panic here. I just went into this really bad place, and I remember saying, ‘let’s pray’. All of my co-workers stopped what they were doing and came together for a prayer in the hallway. They put their arms around me, and we prayed. I can’t tell you how often we do that for each other.”

Halstead said extending chaplain services to clinics meets the mission of Mercy, a nonprofit and Catholic healthcare provider.

“Mercy has always had a tradition around holistic care - the mind, body and spirit,” Halstead said. “We have great physicians who seek to provide services beyond the physical.”

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 12/30/2013