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48 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, January 27, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend December 24, 2004 McMahon Pastoral care means taking time to listen By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune Spending Christmas in a hospital bed can be emotionally draining because so many people approach the holiday season with a specific set of expectations. "Being in the hospital at this time of year isn’t easy," says the Rev. Joe McMahon. "At Christmas people want to be with family, and if you’re in the hospital, you can’t be with family." Patients may be much more sensitive at this time of year, and chaplains have to respond with heightened sensitivity, too, says McMahon, director of pastoral care for Asante Health System. Asante is the parent company for Rogue Valley Medical Center and Three Rivers Community Hospital in Grants Pass. Chaplains often help by lending a receptive ear to people who need to talk, he says. "It just comes down to listening to folks and letting them tell their stories." Advertisement McMahon says the talk often turns to Christmases past. "People remember things that happen at this time of year," he says. Some may want to reminisce about their childhood Christmas. Others talk about their children, or a loved one who died around the holidays. "What they want to talk about is what we talk about," he says. Encouraging people to tell their stories reconnects us to a tradition that’s as old as humanity, McMahon says. "I’ve had the privilege of being in several third-world countries," he says. "When the sun goes down people sit around the fire and tell stories. They talk about things that happened two or three generations ago as though they happened yesterday." Telling stories binds people together, he says, in a way that seeing stories on television does not. "We’re a culture of story-watchers," he says. "We have lost something in terms of our connectedness with each other." Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers