By Paul Riddle, Director of Spiritual Care, Lifeline Chaplaincy Houston
According to an old proverb, of unknown origin, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Since the outbreak of the pandemic, this proverb has become part of our lived experience. When it became unsafe to hold in-person gatherings, we moved Lifeline-sponsored meetings and training events to Zoom. This has resulted in some happy surprises. The monthly Texas Medical Center Chaplains Brown Bag, a professional training event for local chaplains that I have coordinated for many years, used to draw anywhere between 5 and 20 participants in person; attendance for the 5 months we’ve met on Zoom has averaged 29 — a significant increase. We’ve seen similar increases in attendance at Lifeline training events. For example, a discussion of Atul Gawande’s book Being Mortal drew 37 participants, a lunch and learn event for volunteers hosted by Virgil Fry drew 15 participants, and a seminar on reproductive loss presented by Michele Thompson and Tamara Thompson drew 34 participants. If these events had been held in person, they would likely have drawn many fewer participants. Teleconferencing has the additional advantage of removing geographical barriers — eliminating the need to commute — and opening events to a wider pool of participants.
The increase in attendance that we have experienced at these and other events is about more than improved numbers – it’s about more lives touched – more people being exposed to and benefiting from Lifeline’s ministry. The experience we are gaining in using teleconferencing for training and other events will serve us well once the pandemic is over and we return to “normal” operations.