Rainbow Recognizes Spiritual Care Team

Pictured from left to right are Rainbow Chaplain Steve Steele, Bereavement Counselor Hilary Furnish, and Chaplain/Bereavement Coordinator Laura Wessels.

Each year, during the final week of October, Pastoral Care/Spiritual Care Week (October 22-28) allows organizations and institutions of all kinds and types to recognize spiritual caregivers and highlight their sacred work.

And we can't let this week go by without taking the time to acknowledge some important members of our Rainbow Hospice Care team, Laura Wessels, Steve Steele, and Hilary Furnish.

We appreciate all their hard work and are thankful for all the care and spiritual and emotional support they provide for our patients and their families, and their colleagues. We are fortunate to have each of them as a part of our team at Rainbow. As spiritual caregivers, they are doing important work and are responsive every day, everywhere, and in every situation.

"Our work is challenging and difficult, but is not without its rewards. There are places where I am given a spiritual drink of holy water in the visits that I am privileged to do. Death is not all that there is. To be part of someone's life in this chapter, and to be able to be present in ways that maybe no one has been present with them for many decades is a great joy to me because I feel like I'm assisting them in doing the Lord's work. I offer who I am and what I have, and I pray for them and then enter into whatever is beating the drum in their heart and in their soul and try to engage them on that level. There are times when there are folks that are a great challenge for me personally and they are the ones who I end up probably liking the most. And one of the things I like to do is when I go from one visit to the next visit, I don’t drive the fastest route. I try to take the backroads so it gives me an opportunity to drive a little slower and think more clearly, and offer a little prayer for them before I enter into their home or that facility." -Steve Steele, Rainbow Chaplain

"People who are experiencing death, loss, and grief often find themselves feeling so alone. It is an honor to enter their aloneness and walk this dark journey with them. My prayer is that my presence brings them some light and some hope." - Laura Wessels, Rainbow Chaplain/Bereavement Coordinator

"I am often told, “I could never do what you do,” in regards to working in death and dying. Standing with others in places of deep suffering is challenging at times, yet the work we do is one that helps to nurture hope. Hope that when we are in pain, there will be someone there to comfort us, and we won’t be alone. Knowing each day God provides opportunities for me to help others have a little more hope and feel a little less alone in their suffering keeps me doing this work." -Hilary Furnish, Rainbow Bereavement Counselor