Sinsinawa
Spectrum
A Congregation News Magazine
Sr. Carolyn:
A Compassionate Chaplain
From left: Sr. Carolyn Wildrick
discusses advance directives
with hospital volunteer Kathy Kovell.
by Carolyn Wildrick, OP
Sometime when I was in grade school, I heard the call of the Lord. But entering religious life wasn’t exactly what I had wanted to do, so I was relieved when I found out I could put off that decision until after high school. During my senior year, the call came back, and I knew I couldn’t ignore it. I had had four different religious congregations of Sisters during my school years, but, if I was going to be a Sister, it was the spirit, the joy, the competence, the love of the Dominicans I had at Edgewood High School in Madison that touched my heart.
After the novitiate, first vows, and being a student Sister at Rosary College (now Dominican University), I taught for 34 years in congregation elementary schools, grades 2 through 8. My final years of teaching were in Eau Claire, WI. During my last year there, the LaCrosse Diocese decided to reorganize the Eau Claire Catholic Schools. It was a good time for me to think about moving on. I prayed about what I would do next, and one evening, as I turned on the lamp in my living room, a light inside of me went on also.
My spirituality and faith are important to me and so are people. Another Dominican Sister of my community, who was in Eau Claire at that time, was a chaplain, and that is what I was now being called to do! I earned five clinical pastoral education units through Luther Hospital in Eau Claire and also a pastoral education certificate through St. Mary’s University in Winona, MN. (I already had a master’s degree from St. Mary’s which I had earned during my teaching years.)
In 2000, I was hired as a chaplain at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire where I continue to minister today. Sacred Heart Hospital is one of 13 hospitals owned and operated by the Franciscan Sisters of Springfield, IL. Their mission includes serving the sick, the poor, the aged, and the terminally ill without discrimination, and being concerned about their spiritual, physical, psychological, and social needs―in other words, caring for the whole person. In fiscal year 2009 alone, Sacred Heart Hospital provided $4.6 million in charity care for people who did not have the financial resources to pay for services by giving them partial or complete forgiveness of their bill!
As a staff chaplain, I am primarily concerned about the patients’ spiritual and emotional needs. I participate in the healing mission of Jesus in a variety of ways. I see patients before surgery and other procedures that require sedation; I see new patients throughout the hospital; I am at all deaths, traumas, and codes that occur during my shift; and I do follow-up visits and see patients who request a visit or whose nurse or other staff member requests that I see a patient. I work on all nine floors of the hospital.
What do I do while I am with patients? I strive to be a prayerful, compassionate presence. I listen to their concerns, acknowledge their emotions, and validate their experiences. I calm and comfort them and their families, bless new babies, hold the hand of dying patients, encourage stroke patients, link patients with their church, share experiences of God’s support, pray for healing, comfort staff members who have been through a traumatic shift, and conduct prayer services to promote healing and health.
Mother Teresa has said that every act of kindness is an act of peace. Each act of spiritual and/or emotional support, of care, of concern brings peace and fosters the building of a holy and just society. At the end of each day, if I have made a difference in someone’s life, I have received my reward!