Spirituality in Health Care; And Thanks for Your Thoughts and Prayers

For the "regular" readers of my blog, I am happy to report that my mom is doing much better. I was so touched and overwhelmed by the many people who wrote comments and kept my family in your thoughts and prayers. I thought I'd give you a brief update, and also talk to you about the health care and spirituality programs we have on our campuses.

I was able to talk to my mom yesterday for the first time in three weeks. As of last week, she is off the ventilator and out of ICU. She is looking at two to three weeks of in-patient rehabilitation, as she is still not able to walk, lift her arms, etc. She is eating well and is mentally "back to normal." It was so nice to hear her laughing and joking on the phone and sounding once again like her usual self. She realizes that she still has a long way to go to full recovery, but, with the support of family and loved ones, I think she will have the strength to recover.

My mother is a very religious person, and she is convinced that prayer helped her survive this health crisis. While I would not describe myself as a religious person, I knew this was important to my mom, so I said many prayers over the past three weeks. I have read about medical studies that have shown that prayer can have a positive effect on patients. I certainly wanted to hedge my bets.

At both of our campuses, we provide programs and panel discussions that address the topic of Spirituality in Medicine. Regardless of one's personal religion, as a health care provider, you will encounter patients with many spiritual beliefs and needs, and you will need to understand how these beliefs may impact your patients' care or family situation. As health care educators, we are sensitive to these issues of spirituality and want to make sure our students have opportunities to learn about many faith-based issues. We have welcomed leaders from many religions to our campus to provide information to our students about the intersection of medicine and spirituality.

So, again, thank you to everyone who sent me a note or said a prayer on behalf of my mother. This experience reminded me of how important community is to all of us--whether it is our immediate family, our close friends, our work colleagues and classmates, or complete strangers you meet on-line. There are many wonderful and caring people in the world who really do care about their fellow human beings in a genuine way.