Have you ever been asked to pray for a family, to pray for a miracle because they are certain that everything is going to be ok? Have you ever prayed at the request of family, although you already know the outcome will not be what they want you to pray for?
It’s been a while since i’ve posted a chaplain blog entry. I have definitely been writing. Between my work computer and my personal laptop, there are about 6-8 unfinished entries. I’ve got a lot to say, just not really sure how to say it.
That brings me back to the original questions. Have you ever prayed for a family, as they ask you to pray for a miracle? They are certain that God will do the right thing and save their loved one. Once they’ve been admitted to the hospital, that prayer request comes a little easier to fulfill, carefully worded in comfort. When the family is the family of a trauma patient, who lies in the trauma bay, being resuscitated by the ED and Trauma Teams, it’s a little more difficult to pray what they are calling out for. It’s even more difficult, when you already know that the outcome will not be what they are praying for.
The other day, at work, I was tired. When I am tired, i tend to get punchy. Most of the time, it’s a silly kind of punchy; filled with laughter, goofy comments, and jokes. That’s how the morning started. I was feeling great, hanging out with one of my teams and having a good day of support and camaraderie. We had no idea that was about to change.
When you work in a level 1 trauma center, your day can change in a matter of seconds, when there are traumas headed in your direction. Our traumas can be any age, gender and mechanism. Gun shot wounds, car collisions, assaults, stabbings, suicides, water accidents, falls, head injuries, animal attacks and depending on where you are located, even shark attacks. The list is endless. We’ve had infants to the elderly and we’ve had multiple traumas at the same time. Each trauma will impact a team member differently. We’ve worked hard to not allow the impact to maneuver it’s way into our emotions, but every once in a while, one does get to you.
When traumas come in, the ED and Trauma teams are prepared for whatever is coming. Sometimes, the teams have no idea what they are about to face but they are prepared. They get the Trauma Bay stacked with appropriate supplies and medication. The operating rooms are ready to take on whatever trauma enters their facilities. Experienced doctors, surgeons, nurses, respiratory therapists, care partners, and other healthcare clinicians (including us chaplains) are present with the expertise to do all that can possibly be done.
The unique thing about traumas is the split second it takes for one to happen and that one second changes someone’s life forever. There is no discrimination of age, skin color, gender, wealth, or gene pool. The life of this particular trauma that we were about to receive, was changed in a split second, too. There were already fatalities at the scene and this one would become another one. Despite the heroic efforts that were attempted by all the teams this day, the life of this trauma patient ended all too soon.
I was with the families. They asked me to pray for their loved ones. They wanted me to pray that God will save them and to pray with the assurance that God already has. What they didn’t know, I already knew. The prayer they were requesting would not be answered in the way they had hoped.
In my role as a chaplain, there are two scenarios that are difficult to accept. One is, no matter how hard the clinical teams work to save a patient, their resuscitation efforts may not be enough to bring the patient back. The second scenario is this, no matter how hard I pray, the outcome may not be what the family had hoped for. Either scenario is painful to accept, and even more difficult to accept when you already know how it’s going to end.
I pray that never happens to you.
This Chaplain's Journey 