Chaplain Joan Keiser on the power of the unspoken word

Do You Hear What I Hear?
Listening with the Heart

I received a page to the Emergency Room: a two-month old baby was arriving, coding. My thoughts were focused on how I would find the baby and the parents. What I had not considered was that the parents would be deaf.

The baby was in an exam room with the medical staff working to resuscitate her. I went to locate the parents who had been placed in a consultation room. The local police had been called to the home so they were on site and outside of the consultation room. I learned that a person would be arriving soon to sign for the parents. As I started to open the door to check on the parents, I was told by the officer that it might be best to wait for the person that could assist us in communicating with the parents.

I chose to open the door and check on the parents. As I opened the door, I saw the mother and father clinging to each other and heard them sobbing uncontrollably. I walked over and wrapped my arms around them. The mother, I discovered, could read lips and speak some. I told her who I was and that we would get them back to see the baby as soon as possible. She thanked me and hugged me. They needed something to drink, some tissues for their tears and someone to be with them in their grief and waiting. This was their child they had given life to.

The person who came to sign for the parents had been with them when their baby was born. That was a real blessing as they were familiar with her. The baby did not survive. When I asked the “caring question” about tissue donation, I was very touched that the parents immediately said: “Yes.” The baby was eligible to donate heart valves—a beautiful gift.

As I reflected, I thought about cultural diversity and how many times we think of it in terms of language—the spoken word. I thought about the message that a simple act of kindness such as a “cup of cold water” can convey without spoken words. The language of love and caring can be communicated in so many different ways.

Being gifted with hearing, I wondered what it would be like to never hear your baby cry, laugh, or utter sounds of contentment?

I cannot imagine what it must be like to live in a “world of silence.” Most of us seek silence because of all the noise we are exposed to as we go through our daily lives, but what if that was a way of life for us? I also thought of how God speaks to us through the silence. I believe there are blessings for those of us who can hear with our ears and for those of us who hear with our hearts as well.

I am thankful for the many ways that Chaplains hear the needs of others.

 

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