“I Know Who You Are!”
By Paul Riddle, Director of Spiritual Care – Houston
I recently received clearance to resume visiting patients in person at one of the Texas Medical Center hospitals after an 18-month COVID-induced hiatus during which I was limited to visiting patients by phone. On my first day back, the last visit I made was to a patient who had been in the hospital several weeks, and whom I had visited many times by phone. The patient’s wife was often with him in the room, and most of the time she was the one who answered the phone. Because the patient slept a lot, many times my phone visits had been mainly with her.
When I approached the room, the door was open. The patient was sleeping, and his wife was in a chair near the bed, concentrating on some knitting. I knocked gently, stepped into the doorway, and asked if I could step in for a moment. The wife looked up from her knitting, and her face lit up, “I know who you are! You’re Paul Riddle from Lifeline Chaplaincy. Come on in!” And I did.
The wife and I visited for a few minutes while the patient slept. She talked about the weeks of her husband’s hospitalization, how limited visitation had been due to COVID restrictions, and how lonely she felt at times. She told me how much my regular phone calls had meant to her during the long days of confinement, and as she spoke tears welled up in her eyes. “It’s so good to finally meet you in person,” she declared, “You have no idea how much you’ve helped us get through these past weeks.” We visited awhile longer and prayed together. “I look forward to seeing you again soon,” she said as we parted.
This brief encounter speaks to the times we’re living in as the COVID-19 pandemic runs its course. A hospitalization is hard enough in “normal” times. Restrictions on visitation have made things even more challenging, compounding isolation and loneliness. Though I didn’t know it at the time, my regular phone calls were a lifeline for this patient’s wife. His condition was such that he wasn’t able to provide much company, so she grew to value any contact from the outside world. When we finally met in person, she was able to tell me that side of the story that I hadn’t known before. For me, this encounter validates the importance of the phone ministry we’ve been conducting for the past year and a half, and it also illustrates the value of meeting with people face-to-face. This experience will be one of my “take-aways” from the pandemic.