Many terminally ill patients who find themselves battling pent-up anxieties and concerns about their lives and relationships can experience emotions that exacerbate their physical distress and unease. Considering this, it is critical for hospice caregivers to take the time to assess and ease patients’ spiritual and emotional pain to help ensure they pass in peace.Indeed, spiritual support is so important in end-of-life care that it is legally mandated. Hospice provides spiritual support because it is an essential component to holistic healthcare and invaluable for those dealing with end of life needs. At VITAS Healthcare, chaplains offer education to other team members to help them remain spiritually and culturally sensitive when providing care. This helps the caregivers convey respect and compassion and build trust.
Initially, some patients are hesitant to receive a chaplain visit because they may not be aware of the chaplain’s training or they may have had a painful religious experience. While VITAS honors patients’ requests not to visit, we also help people understand that VITAS chaplains are trained to provide spiritual care regardless of one’s faith background. A chaplain’s role is to provide a safe and non-judgmental space for emotional and spiritual expression. We acknowledge and often give voice to the emotional, relational and spiritual concerns a patient experiences.
If patients and families are comforted by rituals from their religious traditions, our chaplains will provide them or work in partnership with the appropriate religious leaders. Moreover, if patients describe themselves as “non-religious” or not affiliated with a faith community, we still recognize that they have spiritual needs and invite dialogue about who and what provides meaning and comfort in their lives.
The main goal of hospice care is to improve the quality of life for the patient and his or her family. Attending to patients’ and families’ emotional and spiritual needs are big factors in providing optimal care. As noted in the respected hospice textbook, 20 Common Problems in End-of-Life Care, authored by VITAS Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Barry M. Kinzbrunner and VITAS Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs Joel S. Policzer, some of the common spiritual elements that people are faced with at the end of life include:
• Searching for love and acceptance
• Moving through fear to peace
• Moving through despair to hope
• Moving from isolation to community
• Finding connection to something beyond themselves, with a higher purpose or what they may consider sacred or holy
• Releasing guilt and shame so they can feel worthy of love
• Moving from loss to closure
Movement within any one of these spiritual elements can improve a hospice patient’s quality of life immeasurably. Recognizing this, VITAS offers spiritual care to its adult and pediatric patients, including patients with varied cultural backgrounds and faith traditions as well as those who profess no religious affiliation. By embracing diversity and meeting people where they are, without imposing any thoughts or belief systems, VITAS’ chaplains invite patients and their families to share their stories and give voice to what is important to them.
As part of its commitment to excellence as the nation’s leading hospice and palliative care provider, VITAS requires all of its chaplains to have master’s degrees and obtain Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) training from the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. VITAS chaplains work with interdisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses, social workers, volunteers and other hospice caregivers as part of its holistic approach to hospice care. VITAS chaplains also assist patients with funerals and memorial services, sacraments such as communion and anointing, bar and bat mitzvahs, and even weddings, if such events can bring meaning, connection, purpose and closure. They also facilitate grief support groups in the community and provide bereavement services for patients’ family members, including children.
