Tim Serban on the gift of being certified chaplains

Editors note: Below Tim’s reflections is the first e-mail Tim sent to PlainViews. We wanted to include it so that our readers would have a sense of what happened when the chaplains first arrived.

Reflections of a Chaplain on Katrina

How can one imagine the size and scope of such a challenging disaster? I have come to deeply appreciate our chaplaincy training and the Clinical Pastoral Education experience even after 18 years.

During the initial week in Baton Rouge, LA, I received an article on Spiritual Caregivers and the risks we face from "compassion fatigue." The article referenced a figure stating that around 80% of spiritual caregivers who have not had CPE have a greater likelihood of experiencing debilitating compassion fatigue. This made a lot of sense in the trenches of New Orleans amidst the great unmet needs. As I scanned this article, I wondered what it was that made the difference. We had so many voluntary spiritual caregivers who indicated a willingness to provide support but who had little to no CPE background. The article focused on the area of "Boundaries." Chaplains must know their own issues and limitations and how to maintain clear boundaries.

In the disaster response to Hurricane Katrina, we faced unprecedented unmet needs. There were 500 police officers who had been in a shelter rotating shifts. They had lost everything, including their own families. Responding to the suicides that occurred was discouraged by the leaders in order to keep focused on the task at hand. When chaplains arrived, the needs they faced became almost consuming. It was not uncommon for me to get a call from a commander in the field requesting that one of our chaplains be allowed to embed with the group for at least a few days to help them begin to sift through the overwhelming grief that they were experiencing.

In the shelters, the need was great to help balance the support to evacuees and direct those religious groups focused on conversions to the outside and away from the vulnerable. Daily, families would arrive at the gates of the disaster mortuary seeking to know if their loved one was found.

In any of these three situations, a compassionate spiritual caregiver could have easily been swept away for hours, days, or months. Even the most seasoned chaplains found it difficult to maintain healthy boundaries in the face of such unrelenting need.

Great chaplains are doing great work; many religious and spiritual caregivers are providing basic support and presence. The area clergy from this community of Louisiana are learning by fire. Their experience in self-care and boundaries are coming at a price, which may be exhaustion. The gift we have in our common training as Board Certified Chaplains enables us to at least have a template from which to measure our work. It doesn't totally protect us from the fatigue of providing compassionate care, but it hopefully helps us recognize our limitations in the face of such global need. The women and men who were called in the first days after this disaster have stood together and stood strong in their common ministry of compassionate care. They will long be united in the humbling work that involved the most intense and the most sublime duties. All of this might have been better led by any one of these professionals, but by working as a team these first weeks will be forever remembered.

Tim’s e’mail:

I was activated to initiate the response at the Red Cross Headquarters in Baton Rouge, LA. Our efforts included collaborating with local and community religious leaders. The size and scope of this disaster later became realized as the destruction path covered over 90,000 square miles. The devastation site was equivalent to the country of Great Britain.

Within 48 hours of our assessment, it was clear that the Spiritual Care response would be focused on 4 major operations:

The work in this effort has been supported by 15 –25 Chaplains in collaboration with FEMA, D-MORT, HHS, Military, Law Enforcement and many other organizations, including the interfaith organizations in the Louisiana & Baton Rouge areas.

The impact of such an event will continue to unfold in the weeks and months to come. The work of the Spiritual Care Response Team and American Red Cross has been superb. The changing dynamics of this event will continue to be evaluated, but I must say, the compassion and support that was shown in the first days and weeks of this disaster were unprecedented. Our teams were deeply humbled by the magnitude of such loss, overwhelmed by the personal stories of survival, and honored to be serving in such an effort that required us to trust that great change is accomplished over time, through the efforts of simple tasks repeated by a multitude of volunteers and residents.

The best lessons from these first weeks are compassion, collaboration, communication, patience and perspective.

Tim Serban, is a Board Certified Chaplain with the National Association of Catholic Chaplains and serves as director of Mission Integration & Spiritual Care at Providence Everett Medical Center in Everett, Washington and serves on the Spiritual Care Response Team with the National American Red Cross.