Chaplain Geralyn Cappabianca

Memoirs of a Hospital Chaplain Chaplain Geralyn Cappabianca

Hospitals can be fearful places where people come for tranistions, from sickness to health, from dying to eternal life. We walk through many of life's transitional doors in a hospital. The hospital chaplain can help people with these challenges, providing a calming, peaceful presence, someone who will walk with them through their doors. Through the use of the metaphor of the door and many true inspirational patient stories, as well as the chaplain's own journey through her many doors, this book will invite the reader to laugh, to cry, and to consider the many doors of tranistion in their own life. Topics discussed include end-of-life planning, coping with grief and loss, compassion fatigue and burn-out, near-death experiences, and finding peace and joy admist life's transitions. The book itself models the role of the chaplain in the hospital setting, inviting all chaplains to reflect on their own role in their ministry setting. It is an inspirational spiritual journey, sometimes mystical, sometimes heart-wrenching, but always engaging and inviting further thought and reflection by the reader. These are stories that almost everyone can relate to, as they are stories about life's greatest events, such as weddings, birth, death, and coming to new life after a loss. The final chapter offers spiritual tools for coping with the many transitions, the many doors, that life invites us to walk through. The final word: life is eternal, we are eternal, we are one, all is well. Readers who will enjoy the book are doctors, nurses, chaplains and chaplain students, and other healthcare professionals. Other readers include those on a spiritual journey, those who have an interest in the mysteries of life and death, and those wanting to learn how to care for aging parents and need to have the difficult conversation about end-of-life issues such as living wills and advance directives. On a broader level, everyone who wants to live a more spiritual life will find the invitations to reflect on issues such as regrets, "bucket lists", forgiveness, and choosing love, to be inspiring.