Yvette Walker
With KVCR News, I'm Yvette Walker. This is IE Latino Voices, where we invite representatives from Latino led and Latino serving organizations to share their stories and their impact in our region. Joining me today is Chaplain Alex, with San Antonio Regional Hospital. Thank you so much for being with us today.
Chaplain Alex
Thank you for having me. Excited to be here.
Yvette Walker
Chaplain Alex, how did you select your path to becoming a chaplain?
Chaplain Alex
Yeah, I kind of did a roundabout path that not most people do. I knew I was never going to be a chaplain, so I was in seminary. I didn't take Clinical Pastoral Education for that reason. But then after seminary, I was working as a mental health case manager for little kids, and I got a call in the middle of the night that my dad had had a heart attack, and he was on life support at Riverside Community Hospital. I was living in Arkansas at the time, and we came out and he was placed on hospice, and he ended up passing about three weeks later. But during that time, we had such a phenomenal experience from the social worker and chaplains that were coming out to visit my family, and they really led us through a very difficult time, you know, the most difficult time that we had had as a family. And as I started clawing my way through the grief in the months to come, I started hearing the faintest whisperings of the call. And the more I clawed my way out, the more loudly that call was coming to me. And so, I found a hospice that would hire me without any clinical experience other than as a case manager for mental health. Worked there a couple years to get some experience, moved on to another one, began doing Clinical Pastoral Education on the path to board certification, and never looked back.
Yvette Walker
Can you share with us exactly what the role of a chaplain is in a hospital or healthcare setting?
Chaplain Alex
We see everybody, regardless of their faith tradition, or if they have no faith tradition. We see everybody in the hospital that is going through a difficult time and needs some support. We're there to listen. We're there to maybe help them with some difficult, ethical decisions or end of life decisions that they have to make. We're there to provide them with a sense of peace, with a sense of comfort, however that looks to them. During our initial assessment, we try to ascertain what is going to be the most helpful to them. We try to see what kind of spiritual resources they have available to them, whether it's a faith community or sacred text reading or a rosary or prayer, whatever it is, and then we try to see how we can support them in that in utilizing those spiritual resources.
Yvette Walker
How does the support you offer patients and families impact the overall care and outcomes of patients' experiences?
Chaplain Alex
It's all about healing, right? There's been a lot of studies over the past couple of decades, especially as chaplaincy has become a more research-oriented discipline, that have shown conclusively that having spiritual care increases patient satisfaction, it provides better quality and patient safety. It also reduces length of stay, which is everybody's goal, you know. So, there's a lot of ways that we positively move the needle on those clinical metrics. That's what gets me up in the morning. I've had jobs where, you know, made a lot of money, and I've had jobs where I've made a lot of difference, and knowing that I'm able to walk into those rooms and to provide a sense of peace and calm, it's just a very rewarding experience to know that we were there at the most difficult time that this family was facing.
Yvette Walker
I also understand Chaplain Alex, that you have a vibrant volunteer spiritual care program. Talk about that.
Chaplain Alex
Yeah, I got an amazing group. I have 12 Eucharistic ministers. I have, I think it's 22 chaplains that are somewhere in the process of getting released on their own. They do a great job at helping to augment our spiritual care department. And I'm really proud of these people, because I don't know many people that would come in a volunteer role and then do all of the training and education that I require of them. So we have people that are doing 5 to 10 hours a week just of the educational component, in addition to going out and seeing patients. It usually takes about anywhere between four and eight months for us to take them through the training before they see their first patient on their own. They'll be shadowing and orienting to the hospital. And it's a great program, and man, I got a bunch of great people that are just really, really positive impact on the hospital.
Yvette Walker
Such a robust program developed to create new chaplains and over four to six months to make sure that they're absolutely prepared to interface with those patients, which I guess, is no wonder why the hospital earned an award. Tell us a little bit about that.
Chaplain Alex
We received the Excellence in Spiritual Care award from the Healthcare Chaplaincy Network. We've received that in February of this year. It was a culmination of a lot of hard work, but really proud of my staff.
Yvette Walker
What's the best way for future volunteer chaplains to connect with you and learn more about how they too can assist?
Chaplain Alex
Give me a call. You can reach me at the hospital, 909-920-6326, or by email aaaron@SARH.org.
Yvette Walker
Chaplain Alex, thank you so much for your heart centered work.
Chaplain Alex
Thank you.
Yvette Walker
Join us again next week for IE Latino Voices. You can find this story and others on our website at kvcrnews.org/IELatinoVoices. IE Latino Voices is produced by KVCR Public Media, and is funded by generous support from San Antonio Regional Hospital. Here for life. For KVCR News, I'm Yvette Walker.
