NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2020 - 21

of the things that we need to
actively work on is finding ways to
connect with each other and to
support the people who are at the
bedside, and in the buildings, or
going into the homes. Some of us
are spending more time doing our
work from home, so things like
Zoom drop-ins for nurses and other
bedside folks are valuable. I have
given my cell number out to
colleagues if they need one-on-one
time. Developing the list of the
multitude of local and national
resources that exists for health
care providers on the frontline is as
essential as everything that we are
doing with the patient and their
loved ones. If we do not develop
these supports, if we do not watch
out for each other, we are going to
have even a bigger problem. My
experience is that this has been
really appreciated.

I am a chaplain in an outpatient
palliative care clinic for a large
teaching hospital in San
Francisco. The populations I see,
primarily, are patients with
advanced cancers and patients
with advanced neurological
disease. For the last five years I
have also been seeing people
throughout the state of
California, in Colorado, and
Wyoming - a lot of people that
may be very isolated.
The capacity to use telemedicine
has been absolutely crucial, as a
member of our team and
certainly for me as a chaplain. A
virtual consideration, and one
that is an in-person consideration
too, is the patient's
understanding of what is the
chaplain's role. As a chaplain, I
would say people more often talk
about coping strategies, about
emotional balance, how to find
resilience - spiritual resilience, or
just human resilience - in the face
of serious illness.
The patient's possible connection
to a faith tradition or faith
community may inform not only
the visit, it may inform treatment
decisions, so the chaplain can
gather that information, create a
relationship, and share that with
the team if they are not present.

Judy Long, MA, MS
Judy Long is a Palliative Care
Chaplain and Educator, UCSF
Division of Palliative Medicine at
University of California, San
Francisco.

I find that telemedicine is
particularly wonderful because I
can reach someone who is a
caregiver for a patient, and the
caregiver and the patient both
may live on a ranch in Colorado. I
have also used telemedicine to
provide online live courses for

caregivers who can talk with one
another, so they benefit from
that support and they can learn
skills to help bring themselves
some emotional resilience.
There are times when I go online
with my team, so everybody is
there. But there are definitely
times when the patient or the
caregiver may wish to speak with
me or with one of the other team
members individually. It is very
important to assess for that need
and to arrange that if required.
Additionally, I think it is helpful to
let people know upfront at the
beginning of a visit that it is
possible that something may
happen in the middle of the visit,
like the call might be dropped. Let
them know we will get back to
them and how we will get back to
them, so they are not totally
taken by surprise and wondering
what to do.
We can hold family meetings
virtually and it is a wonderful gift
to bring people together. There is
the capacity to be present at a
time when being there in-person is
not an option. Here at UCF, we are
in the midst of planning online
memorials. There are people that
cannot get out of their homes or
gather together but they want to
have some sort of a memorial, a
caring way of recognizing the
passing and the transition and loss
of a loved one. They are doing that
in community and that has been a
beautiful thing to bring forward.
In thinking of bereavement and
grief, there can be counseling and

Newsline / Summer 2020

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NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2020
