Pastoral Care
Chaplains
Pastoral Care Staff
Every day, seven days a week, a chaplain at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is available to talk with a patient, arrange a kosher meal, offer a prayer, or sit in on an important administrative meeting. It is a broad job description, and one that changes as health care changes.
"Our job is to meet the various spiritual, religious, and/or emotional needs of the patients, their families, and staff-that covers a wide range of possibilities," says Rev. Walter Moczynski, M.T.S., M.Div., director of Pastoral Care at Dana-Farber. "We listen to people's stories and offer them counsel or support and a personal presence when desired."
Chaplains offer an extensive list of services, from providing a prayer rug or rosaries to supporting a family through an ethical dilemma.
The Rev. Walter Moczynski
Availability, flexibility, and openness are the keys to having an effective pastoral care department, Moczynski says.
"A diagnosis of cancer brings on a lot of questions: Why me? Is this a punishment? Is this a test? It can turn a person's life upside down. People with cancer need someone they can trust to talk with about these spiritual and emotional questions," he says. "As patients and their families search, they need to talk with someone who respects their belief system."
The Pastoral Care staff includes clinically trained chaplains from a variety of perspectives including interfaith, Islamic, Jewish, Protestant, and Roman Catholic.
The staff also coordinates its care with the Chaplaincy Services Department at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Pastoral Care Department at Children's Hospital. In addition, 21 clergy from other religions in the community are available to meet specific needs.
"Chaplains are available to speak with people whatever their faith or philosophical outlook on life," Moczynski says. "We don't proselytize or convert. We try to be with the patient and have an open dialogue and walk with them as far as we can on their challenging journey."
In addition to helping patients, chaplains are available for the staff.
"We need to make sure the caregiving team stays healthy as well," Moczynski says.
Making way for changes the Pastoral Care Department at Dana-Farber has always adapted to the various needs of patients and staff, but it has had to adapt more than ever before as the focus of cancer care changes to outpatient services.
"Regardless of the many changes in medical care, patients continue to experience spiritual and emotional issues brought on by serious illnesses; whether a patient is an inpatient or not, those issues are important to the healing process," Moczynski says. "With the increase in outpatient care, we need to build a bridge of care to our local communities and the many different faith communities."
The formation of Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare with Brigham and Women's and Massachusetts General hospitals has given the department a unique opportunity to develop a model of coordinated care.
The department is building on long-standing relationships with Children's and Brigham and Women's hospitals. These arrangements allow Dana-Farber chaplains to see patients at both institutions, and allow their chaplains to see patients at Dana-Farber.
The life of a hospital chaplain
Moczynski begins his day early in the quiet hours of the morning so he can reflect, plan patient visits, and prepare for the meetings of the five committees to which he belongs. He checks his phone and e-mail messages so he will know what has happened while he was gone and then sets his priorities.
Hospital ministry, especially to patients of all ages with potentially life-threatening illnesses, can be difficult.
"The challenge is to recognize and respond to the suffering people may experience," Moczynski says. "It can be emotional, it can be physical, it can be spiritual: the good news is that we have an interdisciplinary team of caregivers to meet the many needs of our patients.
"I often remind myself and my staff to be flexible," he says. "You lay out your plan, but you have to be ready to change it at the sound of a beeper."
Moczynski became interested in hospital ministry through an internship that brought him to a hospital. "What drew me to chaplaincy was the opportunity to work with so many people of different faiths and traditions," he says. "It's a way of experiencing the mystery of God. To me, everyone has a piece to offer; it's like stained glass."
He says he has been moved by the courage and inner strength of patients and their families and in helping them find meaning through the spiritual and emotional struggles brought on by an illness.
Moczynski is optimistic about the future. "There have been and will continue to be medical advances for our patients," he says. "What I find inspiring is the appreciation and realization of a person's spirituality and/or religion as an integral part of our patients' care."
