 at St. Martha's Regional Hospital, Antigonish, NS
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Two Sisters of St. Martha are ministering in the Spiritual and Religious Care Department at St. Martha's Regional Hospital. We are Sisters Josephine Keyzer and Catherine Ann MacGillivray.
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Spiritual Care is based on the belief and knowledge that wellness or healing involves the whole person: body, mind and spirit. We know we are naturally spiritual beings because we look for meaning and/or purpose in our human experiences, particularly during illness, tragedy, dying and death. At such times we are all most vulnerable and ask spiritual questions, such as,
- Why is this happening to me?
- Will I die?
- Where is God now in my need?
- Is there an after-life?
It is said that institutions that ignore the spiritual dimension run the risk of becoming only
"biological garages where dysfunctional human parts are repaired or replaced."
- Gibbons & Miller, 1989.
Spiritual care stories abound, but one woman's final words may speak best for what we do. Suffering the loss of her husband after a lengthy illness, she said,
" You helped my husband to die and helped me to desire to keep on living!"
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