We are pleased to celebrate Spiritual Care Week for 2020 from October 25th through October 31st. Our spiritual care provider/chaplains are an integral part of the hospice team, working alongside our physicians, nurses, social workers, health aides, and volunteers to provide loving end-of-life care which attends to the body, mind, and spirit. Hospice spiritual care providers are specially trained to provide culturally sensitive care to people of many different religious and spiritual traditions. Each hospice family can choose whether or not they would like to include the spiritual care provider on their team. We are neither exclusively "religious" or exclusively "non-religious." Hospice spiritual care providers see themselves as providers of non-sectarian care for each person, in a way that honors and cherishes their own, individual and unique spirit.

Christian Pulchalski defines spirituality as that "aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they experience their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred." We affirm that each individual thrives in circles of meaning and purpose in their lives help to grand theme a unique perspective on the living of life in its fullest scope: from its beginnings until its endings, and beyond. The spiritual aspect of a human person is often the brightest and strongest resilience one can draw upon for strength and courage for the journey at the end of life. That journey, which poses at is offset deep question of meaning, fears of the unknown and of suffering, often transforms into a place of great depth of understanding, love, and profound peace, when shared. Your HOV spiritual care providers consider it an honor and a privilege to be able to walk the spiritual journey with our patients and families.

So, what do spiritual care providers/chaplains do with our patient and families to meet such lofty goals? We listen and laugh, we educate and guide, we play cribbage and watch television together, we encourage the telling of life stories, we read and watch and pray...we cry, and share, we sing and play music, and marvel at the richness of life. All the while affirming the wholeness of a person: body, mind, and spirit.

So in October, reach out to your spiritual care provider. Send a text or an email of appreciation. Share a kind word. Send along a prayer. Consider how your life may have been made better by knowing a chaplain.

The first laboratory confirmed case of Covid-19 in the United Stated occurred on January 20, 2020 a little over nine months ago. The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted every aspect of our lives including school, work and worship. To date, there have been approximately 207,808 deaths. There have been many encouraging developments over the past several months including new treatments and a better understanding of how the virus spreads which have dramatically reduced the mortality rate. There are also several promising vaccines entering into stage three clinical trials which means there will likely be an effective vaccine available within the next several months. Despite these encouraging developments, there is an understandable sense of "Covid-fatigue" that has many people asking "when will this be over?" In response to that question, I am reminded of a famous quote from Winston Churchill who led his country through the darkest hours of World War II: "When you are going through hell, keep going."

Although I don't have a crystal ball and cannot tell you exactly when htis pandemic will end, I want to reassure you that this pandemic will in fact end. This year Californians are experiencing another devastating fire season. Being in the middle of fire season is a bit like being in the middle of a pandemic, you want it to end but you realize that there is only so much you can do to stop it. Wildfires requires the presence of oxygen, fuel and heat. The key to putting out a wildfire involves removal of one or more of those three ingredients. Dropping water on the fire removes both oxygen and heat and cutting fire lines is intended to remove fuel. Sometimes fires are burning in rugged areas where it is not possible to drop water on them. In those cares, firefighters frequently use a strategy known as "backfire firefighting" where they start a fire which consumes all of the fuel from the path of the oncoming fire causing it to ultimately burn out. All pandemics throughout history have come to an end because sooner or later they tend to burn themselves out much like a wildfire.

A pandemic, much like a fire requires three ingredients to continue; but instead of oxygen, fuel and heat a pandemic requires a pathogen or infection, a host and a means of transmission. If you are able to mitigate any of those three elements, you will be able to halt the spread of the pandemic. Social distancing and the use of masks are intended to reduce the transmission of the infection and anti-viral treatments and vaccines are intended to weak or destroy the pathogen. Although people are the "fuel" for the pandemic; the good news is that unlike trees, people have a built in defense system called our immune system that will fight against the infection tooth and nail. In fact, the vast majority of people (about 97%) who become infected with Covid-19 will survive and develop immunity!

The Spanish Flu lasted from February of 1918 - April of 1919 and was the most severe pandemic in recent history, infecting an estimated 500 million people worldwide. It is estimated that it accounted for approximately 675,000 deaths in the United States and over 50 million deaths worldwide. This pandemic occurred before the advent of treatments such as antibiotics and antivirals or vaccines and yet despite having no vaccine, the pandemic had run its course in approximately 13-14 months. We are currently entering the 10th month of the Covid-19 pandemic and although we don't currently have a vaccine, we now know that those who have been infected and recovered have antibodies to the Covid-19 virus that provide immunity. Although we don't know how long the immunity will last; once you have immunity you can no longer get the virus or spread the virus to others. We also have the promise of effective vaccines to help provide further protection to those who lack immunity. In light of this, I would encourage you to take heart and heed the words of Winston Churchill and just "keep going" and together we will overcome this pandemic!