BOSTON — Inside hospitals like Massachusetts General Hospital, COVID-19 has changed how patients are treated and how they die.
“The patient can hear the family saying goodbye,” said Rabbi Ben Lanckton, a spiritual caregiver at MGH.
That’s because that goodbye is more often by phone or virtual now, Lanckton told Boston 25 News.
With so many acute patients all the time, front line workers are often at the deathbed, and not family.
“Nurses, front line staff, occupational therapists, anyone who’s doing anything for the patients needs support in this extraordinary time,” Lanckton said.
Kristen Egan is a nurse in an ICU unit. COVID patients are filling it up and faith leaders like Rabbi Lanckton offer support.
"They serve a purpose that is necessary not just for families but for caregivers, for everyone,” said Egan.
The chaplaincy gives workers the strength to carry on, she said.
The Rev. Alice Cabotaje is the director of spiritual care and education at MGH.
“As a service we are available 24 hours a day - 7 days a week,” she said.
This work is especially crucial to families not able to say goodbye in person.
“In general, we have a no visitor policy. So, it has been very painful for many families,” Cabotaje said.
That puts the burden on front line workers and nurses often holding the phone.
Egan says they’ve always done this but COVID makes it worse.
“The magnitude of this is definitely different,” she said.
So rooms called serenity spaces were set up. There are now 25 of those spaces all over Mass General.
Nurses said they are an oasis that helps them escape constant COVID-19 care long enough to recharge and start again.
“We’ll be doing this for a long time and we’ll need lots of supports for a long time.,” Egan said.
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