Chaplains provide healing, hope to Katrina survivors

All pagers at Methodist Healthcare System of San Antonio signaled at the same time Sept. 1. Each pager delivered the same message: “Code Gray.”
Everyone knew what that meant. Methodist Healthcare System was about to be hit by a wave of human suffering the likes of which the hospital had never experienced.
Methodist Healthcare System worked in coordination with federal, state and local authorities to provide healthcare for many of the Hurricane Katrina evacuees from Louisiana.
The flow started as a trickle. Then it became a steady stream. Finally, it turned into a flood of humanity in desperate need of healing.
Altogether the hospitals provided care to more than 300 displaced survivors of the storm.
Infants came without parents. Elderly people came without medications. Men and women came battered and beaten from a hellish week of survival.
All needed healing. All needed hope.
Survivors suffered everything from physical and emotional traumas to strokes and heart attacks. Some returned to shelters at Kelly USA after treatment. Others remained at the hospitals.
Chaplains provided spiritual healing. It took place as patients told their stories of pains, suffering and survival.
Chaplains didn’t say that everything would be all right. Their message of hope was that someone cared. After hearing one patient’s gut-wrenching story of escape, a chaplain said, “All I could do was cry with him.”
“Being present and being physically and spiritually available in a calming fashion in the center of a flurry of pressurized activity is a special gift to all involved,” said the Rev. Eric Smith about a chaplain’s role.
“Actively expressing love and care as personal representatives of God and the church and helping (people) gain and use the resources of their faith can make the most powerful difference in the loves of hurting people, whether victims or healthcare providers.
“It is both a privilege and awesome responsibility to be God’s personal expression in these circumstances, but one we daily accept.”
Methodist Healthcare System’s motto is “Serving humanity to honor God.” In the past weeks it could have been “Come to me, all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
The medical personnel and chaplains have provided both healing and hope for the weary and the burdened. Over the coming weeks the flood of survivors will recede like waters in New Orleans.
These people will become our neighbors, friends and members of our churches.
As United Methodists, let us continue in our ministry of healing and hope for all those suffering in this tragic time of loss.