A chaplain's duty

Eric Rummel is one of five chaplains at Blanchard Valley Health System. "Don't walk in front of me. I may not follow, don't walk behind me. I may not lead. Instead just walk beside me and be my friend,'" was a quote he recited from the French philosopher Albert Camus. "And I always thought that's a good definition for a chaplain, at least for me." Blanchard Valley Hospital's Chaplain Eric Rummel sits inside the hospital chapel. Leah Alsept Rummel has been the chaplain at Blanchard Valley Hospital for a little over three years now. He started in the position just before the pandemic in November 2019. "A lot of my COVID care, if it wasn't for a person in a room, (it was) really more for family members," he said. "If you remember how bad it was for the family members, they couldn't get in to see their loved ones. So it was really being a support system for them." Rummel would often reach out to the church of a patient's specific faith, like to retrieve rosaries for a Catholic patient."Anybody who was Catholic, we could put a little rosary bead or a crucifix in the bed with them in their room so they could have that to bring them and their family comfort," he said. And starting out during the pandemic was tough. "Being a new chaplain and never had worked in a hospital environment and we're going through this pandemic, there were probably more times I was like, 'man, am I the right person to be here?'" Rummel said. But Blanchard Valley Hospital, like other hospitals across the nation, powered through the pandemic. Rummel saw the stress that associates went through due to COVID-19, and began thinking of ways to help alleviate it. "I do these things called huddle chats. And (a) huddle chat is when it might be a group of nurses or professionals, they get together and... we just try to talk about something," he explained. "Not anything religious. It's really something more… spiritual in nature that can be supportive. During this time it's an opportunity for them to get to know each other a little better and just to encourage one another." Rummel said he's found a much greater appreciation for what hospital staff do these last few years. "Just tremendous people here at the hospital who do a great job and a tremendous amount of stress with this and the things they go through," he said. "And so I've tried to be a support system for them as well. And sometimes that's just being a listening ear." Rummel's job as a chaplain isn't focused around one religion – or sometimes, it's not centered around religion at all. "Spiritual care" is a better way to describe it, he says. "It's about those things that are common to all of us. Regardless of religion or no religion," said Rummel. What's the meaning of life? What is our sense of purpose? "Those big questions (in) life that we've either avoided or just haven't given much time or attention to over the years," he continued. "Suddenly we have plenty of time here (in a hospital)." Other times, he says, it's about being a presence for the patient or their families. "It's just being there with them," said Rummel. "It can be getting them water, something to eat. Being a liaison between the family and the medical personnel." Lots of patients he sees aren't religious, he said. "Sometimes they're more open to the big spiritual questions in that sense," he said. "But this is a place where questions like that come up. The big ones you think of... faith, family, friends, (because) they're always kind of the cliché, but it's true. That's what's most important." Rummel knows the hospital can be an anxious place. So he tries to be a positive presence when he walks into the room. "I meet them where they're at," he said. "What they're feeling, what they're experiencing, to just walk with them."