Answering the call
For everyone involved it was never a question of “should we do this?” but “how can we make this happen?”
It was a Wednesday afternoon – just as the Spiritual Health team was packing up for the day – when the call came in.
A man, whose dad was a patient in St. Paul’s Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU), was hoping that the Spiritual Health team could pull together a special wedding blessing ceremony to perform at his dad’s bedside between he and his betrothed.
With the help of her Spiritual Health Program colleagues, Bernadette Howell, Spiritual Health Practitioner, pulled together a blessing outline, readings and a platter of cupcakes, the bedside nurse on duty, Jade Miller, picked up a bouquet for the bride, Carol Dixon, director of Volunteers Resources, provided a small trinket with which to hold the rings, the father lent his own wedding ring to his son, and a heart-shaped brooch left in the hospital’s Lost & Found was given a second life as Bernadette wore this for the occasion in her role as ‘officiant’.
Spiritual Health Leader Bernadette Howell still smiling upon reflection of that exceptional day.
By the following morning, the plans were in place and, as requested, the blessing on the couple was held at the father’s bedside.
“It was very moving… It’s something I will always remember,” said Bernadette.
