As a chaplain, serving patients in hospice can be emotionally and mentally-taxing work. Hospice of the Valley chaplains such as David Kaminski and Leandro Luna do it because they love their work.
Kaminski has been working with Hospice of the Valley since 1998. He was inspired to become a hospice chaplain after doing a residency in Chicago at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in a wing with 52 intensive beds.
The experience pushed him to want to work for an organization focused around caring for people in their homes instead of in a hospital.
“With hospice, they live their best quality of life possible until their death. They are not in the ICU,” Kaminski said.
He has been in hospice for the last 32 years. He has also worked for Hospice of the Great Lakes in the Chicago area.
He has a philosophy degree from Loyola University in Chicago and a master’s degree in pastoral studies from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
For Hospice of the Valley, Kaminski has also given trainings on cultural and religious diversity and has done volunteering training. He is bilingual in Spanish and English, and in the past, he taught a medical Spanish class.
Kaminski helps patients of different faiths with their spiritual needs.
“No matter what religion they are, I help the family and patient arrive at a place of peacefulness after a terminal diagnosis,” Kaminski said.
He said that he regularly works with veterans who have been active duty. He said they often experience remorse and regrets over their actions.
“They will share it with us. That guilt is something that is helpful to talk through. You hear things that the families haven’t heard. We aren’t attached to people. They know we will be confidential,” Kaminski said.
Kaminski said he often spends weeks to months with patients and families and goes on their journey with them.
“I get to know them over extended periods of time. Families will ask me to officiate funerals because of our journey,” Kaminski said.
Kaminski said that as a chaplain, self-care and boundaries are important for his own well-being.
“When I first started, it was more difficult. In our training, they emphasize boundaries…You do a lot of personal reflection to process everything,” Kaminski said.
He said there are still times when he will get emotionally attached to patients and families.
Deaths of younger patients can especially be impactful for him. He said recently, he has been seeing more people in their 40s and younger in hospice, which causes multi-generational grief concerns.
Over the years, he has gotten requests from patients to perform symbolic commitment ceremonies for them and their partners.
For one patient who had been a letter carrier, Kaminski helped to get letters he wrote to his wife and kids.
“It is unique and meaningful when we can help facilitate those things,” Kaminski said.
Sometimes, couples will ask him for special end-of-life ceremonies or rites, such as the Anointing of the Sick. For these requests, he works with religious leaders in their faith communities, such as rabbis, priests or imams.
“If the family is connected to a faith community, it can help their grief process. That bridge can help with their journey,” Kaminski said.
Kaminski encourages his patients to write their thoughts and share their stories on paper. He tells them that they can burn these pieces of paper, or he will do it for them.
He said other chaplains may suggest that patients read books or journal.
“Every chaplain is different. We all bring our own special gifts and talents to patients,” Kaminski said. “Anything you can bring as part of a patient’s life review validates their feelings…They are afraid of death. We all have a fear of death. It means you are human. You can see a difference when they come to a place of peacefulness. The family notices it, too.”
Chaplains all have their own journeys on how they came to work for Hospice of the Valley.
Luna has been with Hospice of the Valley for almost five years, after previously working at Arizona Care Hospice for four years.
Before hospice, he worked as a med-tech, administering medications to patients, at Brookdale Senior Living.
He also served as a pastor at Iglesia La Cosecha for 13 years and the Hispanic pastor at Dream City Church for seven years.
He said as a pastor, he was there to offer members of his congregation a prayer in times of need. His role as a hospice chaplain has been very different.
“You concentrate fully on one person. It took a while to get used to,” Luna said.
When he started with Hospice of the Valley, he shadowed with three other chaplains. With Arizona Care Hospice, he was the only chaplain and had no previous experience. He read books and watched videos to guide him.
Luna said working an assisted-living facility before hospice helped to prepare him for working with older patients.
As a chaplain, he often gets difficult questions from patients, such as “Why is this happening to me?”
“The most painful part for them is leaving their family. There are some regrets. I met a Vietnam veteran who went through a lot. He had a hard time feeling like God would forgive him. Most patients don’t want to be alone,” Luna said.
Luna said it can take time to build a rapport with patients so that they are open to talking with them about their life experiences and feelings.
“Once they get to a point of trust with us, they will tell us…Visiting their home is very sacred. You’re invading their space, and they don’t trust you. It takes one to two visits. Once they find out you care about them, they open up,” Luna said.
He said he often speaks to patients who aren’t devout practitioners of their faiths and don’t have clergy. He has been asked to officiate many patients’ memorial services because he gets to know their families on a more personal level.
Luna often will keep in touch with family members after someone has died.
“We became good friends. We walk with them in their journey,” Luna said.
He said that his job can be difficult. For him, it is important to take him to meditate, pray or take a walk to center himself.
He gets together about once a month with the other chaplains, to talk about their experiences and bring up any questions or concerns. He said they are a strong support system for each other.
“The other chaplains understand, and we can listen and pray together,” Luna said. “When you go through those hard moments, no one understands like another chaplain.”
Luna said in his job, patients will often share details about their jobs and greatest accomplishments.
“Their family members are often surprised to hear these stories. We encourage family members to be there. It usually isn’t a problem for the patients. I worked with a World War II veteran who was present during D-Day. This was the first time her family had heard their mom share what’s in her heart and the amazing things she has done,” Luna said.
Luna said for him, the experiences with patients and families make his work rewarding.
Luna said it is important for chaplains to have a passion for what they do.
“If you do it as a job to make money, it will stress you out, dealing with the fears, anger and all of the emotions. All the chaplains love what they do,” Luna said.