The Sounds
of Love...
This is perhaps the best description I can give of what I experienced as I sat in a patient's room at St. Mary's Health Care in Grand Rapids, Michigan this week.
There was a soft, soothing tone to the voices I heard outside the room interlaced with caring and curiosity.
What a touching experience it was to hear staff members giving such exquisite attention to everyone they encountered...patients, visitors and their fellow staff members.
It seemed strange and otherworldly to find myself in a place where EVERYONE radiated love. I know that we all encounter special moments of feeling this beautiful caring in our lives but in this hospital it was spilling out of everyone's heart.
Amazingly beautiful...and soothing...so very healing.
I became quite curious about this mysterious place I found myself in and commented to staff members about how much I appreciated these expressions of caring. They humbly acknowledged their gratitude, remarking that this was the feeling they wanted to convey.
My curiosity was piqued and so I questioned them further, asking about the selection process that was used to hire people. One nurse told me that she was given a personality test and when I asked about the interviewing process, she remarked that she had gone through eight interviews.
wide-open heart!
Now THAT is an exquisite gift of LOVE.
And it was being expressed by every member of the hospital team...
the doctor who sat at the beside of the patient and talked with him as if they were having coffee together...
the nurse who checked on every possible need of the patient...
the tech person who drew blood and commented, "Buddy, I hope you are well and able to go home soon."...
The maintenance worker who smiled and commented on the lovely day as she mopped the floor.
Expressions of LOVE were ev-er-y-where!
It is very clear that the mission of the hospital is to shower everyone with love while the staff goes about their work of helping people heal. In fact, it is obvious that this hospital knows that the giving of love is a critical component of healing.
Rhonda Byrne, author of The Power, tells us that,
"Every feeling you have saturates every cell and organ in your entire body."
So, when patients (and visitors and staff) are continually shown love, they become immersed with this precious grace and, when we are radiating love, we receive the full force of health through our body at an astounding rate.
I am wondering what the world we live in would be like if everyone shared the mission of this hospital!
I know that I have been profoundly affected by my experience there both as a visitor and, at an earlier date, when I received medical tests...and I am going to try to carry this grace-filled intention of offering unconditional and ongoing love into every moment of my life.
Have a beautiful day!
top image from starseeds.net
As a Clinical Nurse Specialist at Saint Mary's, I'm thrilled to read your blog. Our nursing professional practice model is based on the work of three nursing theorists, one of which is Jean Watson. She describes caring in a spiritual way; "The whole caring-healing consciousness is contained in a single caring moment" and "The one caring and the one being cared for are interconnected" are two of her quotes that resonate with me. This was a very caring environment even before we adopted Jean Watson, but she does a good job articulating what's important to us. It's particularly interesting that you zeroed in on our hiring process. We deliberately ask questions about compassion and spirituality when we interview new nurses.
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing about it! Lisbeth Votruba