Last night at our monthly hospice volunteer gathering at a local pub, I raised a question about what we as volunteers can do in the face of suffering. I don’t mean physical suffering – though we do witness such suffering, we know that we can go and get the nurse and that chances are she will have some medication she can offer to relieve the pain or symptom.
I am talking about spiritual (or psychic) suffering. While physical pain may be connected to this type of pain, it can and does exist independently from pain – and can often be much more intractable. It may show up as “grouchiness” or rudeness or the inability to find comfort no matter how hard staff, volunteers and family may try. These tend not to be the patients whose rooms we happily enter. They are not the “lovely lady” or “sweet gentleman” that volunteers…
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