Integrative Medicine places a high value on Spiritual
Services. The person is always considered as a whole being with
spiritual and emotional aspects in addition to their physical
reality. We believe that any serious alteration in a person's
health status or physical integrity brings with it accompanying
changes in their spiritual awareness as well.
Your pastor or cleric may visit freely at the hospital.
If there are any limitations, your nurse can suggest an appropriate
visiting time. For those who don't have a pastor or whose pastor
is unavailable, a Munson chaplain may be contacted at almost any
time by pager. You, a family member, or loved one may request
a chaplain visit by speaking to your nurse, or notifying the nursing
station.
Diagnosis or acute injury places a patient in an
unfamiliar world. Hospitalization can feel like chaos to one in
the strange and unknown medical setting, and brings with it the
possibility of suffering, as well as losses: loss of identity,
loss of privacy, loss of dignity, and others as well. A patient
may also have a sense of loss of meaning in their life, or in
their situation of illness: Why is this happening? What is going
on with me? What does this mean? These and other questions of
meaning may occur in addition to the unavoidable questions about
the medical facts and prognosis.
It is vitally important to administer the best medical
treatments and to share accurate and specific medical information
regarding the diagnosis with our patients and their loved ones.
It is equally important to minister to the spiritual and emotional
questions, concerns, and issues that arise for patients and family
members. Research indicates that successful resolution of physical
injury and disease occurs best when the patient feels clarity
in the areas of meaning and identity. Working out these questions
is critical:
To healing — as it will trigger the "relaxation
response" that allows the body to work most effectively
on the work of healing;
To recovery — both physically and emotionally.
Spiritual healing may be the most important area to be addressed
if recovery in the other two is to be complete.
To finding peace — even in situations where
physical cure is not possible, spiritual healing is a means
to arriving at a place of acceptance and peace.
Spirituality's unique place in the understanding
of health and well-being is its emphasis on human values and human
meaning that are vital to one's life.
Dr. Kenneth Thorp states that, "spirituality
is in part a recognition of our own finitude and flawed nature.
It entails a quest for meaning and desire for transcendence. But
importantly, spirituality is also about relationships and interconnectedness.
We live our spirituality in the company of others and through
others."
We might conclude, therefore, that the spirit of
the human person is a vital part of the nature of human-ness and
as such needs attention
if we are to understand, nurture, and heal the individual.
"The human being needs a framework of values,
a philosophy of life, a religion or religion surrogate to live
by and understand in about the same sense that he/she needs sunlight,
calcium, or love... We need a validated, usable system of human
values that we can believe in and devote ourselves to (and even
to be willing to die for.) This is not exclusively as a treatment
of cancer or illness, but a prescription for dealing with life."
If you are a Munson Healthcare patient and have a compliment,
concern, or complaint, please contact one of our Patient
Liaisons.
