Rev. Stephen W. Overall on listening care-fully.        From “PlainViews Vol 5 No. 18″

Several months ago, while on ‘Day Duty’ as Chaplain On-Call, I received an urgent referral to see an elderly female patient undergoing treatment for a brittle diabetic condition.

When I arrived, the nurse was attempting to find a suitable vein to prepare her patient for dialysis. The nurse was not pleased that I arrived when I did, as she wanted to complete her procedure before my time with the patient. The patient, however, insisted she wanted to speak with the Chaplain first and invited the nurse to leave.

After almost a half hour of sitting and listening to the patient tell her story … a recitation which included profound memories of having survived multiple abusive relationships, leaving her native country, coming to the United States as an ‘undocumented alien’, providing for her children’s needs including paying for each one’s college education. Now in her late eighties, she had become very ill and poor with little to no support from her children, who she said, “no longer needed Mom now that her money was gone.”

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