Two days ago I began a summer intensive unit of clinical pastoral education, or CPE, as its commonly known. I'll spend the next ten weeks serving as a full-time chaplain at Capital Health. Capital Health operates two hospitals: one in Trenton and one in suburban Hopewell. They are about 5 miles--and for all intents and purposes--a world apart from each other. Trenton is urban, older, bigger, busier, and a full-on trauma center, meaning patients with any type of traumatic injury (e.g., accident, gunshot) can receive care. Hopewell is brand-spanking new, with every modern convenience, including a spa, and is surrounded by lush, rolling hills. Given its setting and the fact that it's not a trauma center, the atmosphere at Hopewell is more like a hotel than a hospital.
I'm one of seven interns in the program. I don't think I could ask for a better group. We're a diverse lot in age, race, country of origin, faith background, and personality, but not so much gender (six males but only one female). We have a former army colonel, corrections officer, and cement manufacturer. Despite the diversity, we're all under the supervision of a certified chaplain.
Today we learned from the chaplain which hospital we'll be assigned to, and which section of the hospital. I expressed a desire to work with HIV/AIDS patients, which I had assumed would see me placed at Trenton, which is, in fact, where I'll be. I won't be working solely with people with HIV/AIDS, but the sections of the hospital I'll be covering include such patients.
Everyone I have spoken to about CPE has said what a transformative experience it was for them, and I don't expect anything different for myself. I experienced a profoundly moving experience on my very first patient visit yesterday. More on that in the next post.
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis is not among my favorite books, but in it he does highlight one eternal truth: some people prefer a self-inflicted, self-contained misery to an experience of grace. As an extremely brief synopsis, the main character is taken on an eschatological bus ride, during which he meets many fellow travelers, each of whom carries a perpetual cloud of cantankerousness over themselves. The bus departs from a land of dreary grays and eventually arrives at what is basically the Microsoft Windows wallpaper--rolling hills, green fields, blue skies--rich colors and lush scenery all around. Despite the improvement in their surroundings, his fellow travelers continue to find things to complain about. In fact, their bodies cannot physically adjust to the beauty of their new surroundings. While wandering through the greenery they discover that they are, in fact, ghosts who lack corporeal bodies. They cannot acclimate to the weightiness, the substantiveness of this new rea...
Best of luck John. I know you will be doing great work.
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