BY PAT SZPEKOWSKI Observer Correspondent
C
omforting and heal- ing the sick is a gift to patients in the hands of compas- sionate healthcare workers. Even more so, spiritual care through devoted chaplain priests, religious sisters, and lay people is an integral part of the pastoral care mission in Catholic hospitals, medical centers, and extended care facilities. During this precarious time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the chaplains work remains the same in spirit, but their physical presence with patients has been prohibited for the health of all concerned. Catholic chaplains normally attend to bedside visits with the sacraments, prayers, warm conversations and counseling during stressful times. Daily Mass in hospital chapels can be televised and accessed by patients in their rooms. The strong bond of hospital chaplains and patients remains the same today, but the tactics have changed. Father George Birungyi, chaplain at AMITA Health Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin, remains stalwart. He is joined by Catholic chaplains Sister Leticia Lapid, OSF, of St. Joseph Parish in Elgin, and Deacon Steven Fox of Gilberts. Pastor Martha Nelson is also part of the chaplain team. No one is relayed to any of the rooms yet, said Father Birungyi, but we maintain phone contact with each one of our patients and, when possible, their family. Mass is not celebrated in the hospital Chapel during this diculttime, headded,but three times a day we voice prayers of comfort and hope to our associates and patients on the public address system. Msgr. Robert Willhite is a chaplain at AMITA Health Mercy Medical Center in Aurora. While maintaining his duties from his residence at St. Joseph Parish in Aurora, he misses the personal contact. I can see the hospital across the Fox River, he said. I spend much of my time in prayer, offering Mass in our chapel, saying the rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet. He is grateful for the Mercy staff. The entire fifth floor of the hospital is devoted to COVID-19 patients, he said. I pray for them, the doctors and nurses, and the housekeeping staff, who are on the front lines of care. Steve May is a lay chaplain at Mercy Medical with Deedee Van Dyke, Dreya Bundy, Susan Puchalla, and Troy Meeks. Leszek Baczkura serves as spiritual care specialist to support both AMITA Health hospitals. We are now a telephone ministry, May explained. Its a challenge with paperwork, getting it to patients, and having documents signed. In Rockford at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center, Father Pierre Polycarpe, serves with Father Steven Lange, Sister Simona, OSF, and several lay chaplains. They are busy, stagger their days and wear masks. It is very dicult and different, said Father Polycarpe, but we are doing ine under stress. ... I love what I do. He is allowed to visit areas of the hospital and offers blessings of the units and ices. Communication is important, he said, and we are telephoning patients and their families or reach them over social media. As chaplains, we are all discovering and allowing ourselves to be drawn into new and modern social media usages and trying to improve along the way, said Father Birungyi. It allows us to connect ourselves with staff, patients, and their families. It is exciting to enter into new communication technologies, because we have no choice but to go high tech, even at our advanced age!
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FRIDAY MAY 1, 2020
The Observer
302 Grove Street - Downtown DeKalb - 815-981-3304 - www.farandas.com
Lincoln Inn / Faranda's Drive thru Menu
Tuesday (4:30 - 6:30 pm) - Home Style Pot Roast Dinner - Succulent hand carved turkey with homemade dressing, mashed potatoes & gravy, garlic bread.with carrots, celery & potato, side salad, buttermilk biscuit. $14 Wednesday (4:30 - 6:30 pm) - 1/2 Crispy Fried Chicken Dinner - French Fries, side salad, coleslaw, garlic bread. $16 Thursday (4:30 - 6:30 pm) - Home Style Turkey & Dressing - Succulent hand carved turkey with homemade dressing, mashed potatoes & gravy, garlic bread. $14 Friday Night Favorites (4:30 - 7:30 pm) Tender Beef Medallions - Baked potato, vegetable medley, side salad, garlic bread. $18 Fried or Baked Icelandic Cod - Potato wedges,side salad, garlic bread. $14 Classic Chicken Parmesan - On a bed of pasta, side salad, garlic bread. $14 Fried Shrimp Basket - Potato wedges,side salad, garlic bread. $16
Pick-up on Sunday, May 10, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. Two Menus to Choose From
Pre-Orders are Required Pre-Orders are Required
Saturday Night Supper Menu - Serving 4:30 - 7:30 p.m.
(All Dinners served with garlic bread, soup or salad)
12 oz. Grilled Ribeye
Baked Potato, Vegetable
$26
Fried Chicken
1/2 Fried Chicken, French Fries, Coleslaw
$16 Ribs & Shrimp
1/2 slab BBQ ribs, Fried Shrimp, Baked Potato, Coleslaw
$20
Pair tonight's take home meal with a bottle of our full bodied red wine or a bottle of light & crisp white wine. $12.00 Country fresh scrambled eggs, seasoned steak tips, our signature cinnamon french toast, rosemary red roasted potatoes, and fresh berries. $20 Per Person Seasoned steak tips, crispy jumbo fried shrimp, a loaded twice baked potato, fresh vegetable, and a crisp spring salad. $26 Per Person
Both served with and a delightful dessert of layered cherry cheese pie in a cup.
(Photo provided)
Father George Birungyi is a chaplain at AMITA Health Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin. Showing their social distancing are (from left) Fernando Gruta, RN, MBA, Interim administrator; Father Birungyi; Vanessa Hiland, RN, MSN, director of Nursing; and Ana Gephart, MD, interim chief medical officer.
Catholic Chaplains Change Normal Routines
Father George Birungyi Father Pierre Polycarpe
(Observer file photos)
Msgr. Robert Willhite
Watch Catholic Mass
Sunday, 6:30 a.m., WREX-TV Channel 13 Rockford Anytime at www.rockforddiocese.org/tv-mass
Brought to you by the Diocesan Office of Communications and Publications
Learning lessons, taking comfort from faith and history
You stand on the shoulders of our brave sisters who faced much the same in the 1918 influenza crisis." So wrote Sister Mary Elizabeth Imler, OSF, who served as head of the Presence Health Ministries board in a recent email to leaders and hospital staffat AMITA Health Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin. She is a member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart, the order of sisters that built St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin, among other facilities. They had very little," she wrote, "but knew the medical value of isolating the sick and bravely stayed with them. This is the foundation of our health caring mission; simply, compassionate tending of the sick. I call upon them to be at your side." She added, "I believe God's spirit truly flows through you, and this will be enough."
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