A Ministry Perspective in Time of Pandemic
I am a social worker by profession. I am employed as Dementia Service Improvement Lead with the Southern Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland. In pre COVID-19 times, this work was community-based involving many face-to-face meetings with people living with dementia, their family or carers and those providing formal statutory services or those community/voluntary sector service providers. My role was to enhance the lived experience of people living with dementia and those important to them.
Previously I had worked for many years as a specialist in palliative care. Incorporated into this work, was the ongoing delivery of a community-based initiative called the ‘Heart of Living and Dying’ which brought advance care planning conversations out of the context of palliative care and into the public domain. The aim was to enable a healthy general public to think about their own mortality and consider what really matters to them in their living, and when they thought ahead to their final years and end of life, what would be really important to them then. This work was regional having spread across Trust boundaries since I developed it in 2017.
I was only 4 months into my substantive post in dementia services when the role was stood down through the advent of COVID-19 in mid-March 2020. I was redeployed to work in a small COVID-19 task group for end-of-life care and bereavement support. My particular skill-set and experience and my background in palliative care was needed in mainly supporting and resourcing acute staff, particularly in ICU, to manage the COVID-19 related death toll and those sensitive virtual communications with distressed relatives of seriously ill inpatients. I was also charged with creating some public facing resources regarding advance care planning, grief, bereavement, and distress. The urgency was great and working days were exceptionally long but productive.
I created a number of bespoke aides memoire and accompanying video simulations on how to conduct those virtual conversations with relatives when:-
- a) their loved one was admitted to hospital,
- b) their loved one’s condition deteriorated
- c) when their loved one died
- d) saying goodbye remotely to a loved one in hospital.
Managing these difficult conversations would not have been part of acute nursing and medical training or practice. These resources were shared across the Region.I also facilitated a number of palliative care social workers around the Region, my Mercy colleague, Sister Fiona Galligan along with our regulatory body the Northern Ireland Social Care Council, NISCC. We worked to create a suite of public facing resource materials to support people talking with children about death and dying, to support advance care planning, or spirituality, or grieving in exceptional times, etc. This resource is hosted on the NISCC Learning Zone and has been very effective in providing bite sized learning for the domiciliary care sector, social workers, nursing, medical and allied health professional workforce, as well as community/voluntary sector and members of the public. It is free to access.
I further co-produced a series of short videos on grief and bereavement for access by anyone needing such support and information.
The COVID-19 task group also set up and staffed a dedicated bereavement helpline in the Trust available 9:00am -5:00pm Monday -Friday.
Alongside all of this, I provided expert comment on some regional draft guidance documents regarding end of life, bereavement and Care Home visiting.
On October 1st 2020, Sister Deirdre was seconded to the Dept. of Health/Public Health Agency to help develop a regional Advance Care Planning Policy for Adults along with the full suite of supporting documents re best practice, to operationalize the policy. This work is current and ongoing.
Deirdre McKenna rsm
Armagh
Cold Desert
When will we shake hands again in greeting and welcome?
When will we see friendly unmasked faces smiling back at us?
When will we hold a hand to offer sympathy and care?
When will we encircle a burdened shoulder in support,
Or offer great affirming “high–fives?”
When will we turn to offer gestures of peace?
When will we reach out hands to receive The Bread of Life?
When will we hug again in the warmth of family and friends?
When will this cold non-tactile desert bloom?
Soon now, very soon,
The vaccinating spring has sprung
Spreading immunity everywhere it flows.
Rita Duignan rsm
Cavan
February 2021
Hope Chorale
The chestnut tree stands strong
Heavily laden branches stretch over the river
Poised, awaiting the conductor’s baton
To begin spring’s symphony,
Faithfully performed each year
From the well-known score.
Each tightly folded bud
A trilled note ready to adorn
The branches with pink-white blossoms.
Nature’s orchestra is tuned up
The river hurriedly hums along,
Bird choirs sing beautifully,
Trumpet daffodils proclaim boldly
To shy primroses peeping from the hedge.
But something is wrong, it’s eerily quiet
No people to be seen,
No Sunday strollers,
No one sitting by the river,
No dog walkers or children on scooters,
What’s wrong? What has happened?
We sang our songs and played our tunes
Disregarding the composer, ignoring the conductor,
Now we are badly out of tune,
Playing dissonant music, singing in disharmony,
The cacophony of COVID-19!
But,
Listen,
A melody of hope is rising in the background,
A hymn of care, of justice and love
Nurses, doctors and carers are singing it,
Thousands of volunteers are harmonising,
Cocooners are joining the chorus.
Listen again,
Bands of young people are marching to the beat,
To the rhythm of just care and action
For all life and our ailing planet.
The song grows louder, the beat grows stronger,
Come, all of us, sing up, sing together,
Sing loudly with hope,
Let it swell to a great crescendo
A healing song for our world.
Rita Duignan rsm
Cavan
Lockdown
One stage at a time, dear people
That’s all we’re offering you.
For the exit from Lockdown there’s no date that is true.
Don’t be aiming for deadlines that you may rue.
COVID-19 will be here for a while
Limiting our freedom and preventing our toil.
For the First and the Deputy it is a great worry,
That’s why they have warned us not to exit in a hurry.
Our aim’s to protect you from a post-Lockdown surge,
Correct social distancing, that’s what we urge,
Our road map’s 5 stages, by these be you led
One after another. Keep that in your head.
Don’t do all at once that could lead to a mess
Your behaviour in lockdown will define its success.
Don’t mind Boris or Leo as they forge ahead,
Let them do it their way, we’ll do it our way instead.
Wash your hands often even though they may sting,
It lessens infection – the good hygiene thing.
Be careful when coughing, catch the droplets when sneezing,
If you fail to do that, it’s very disease-ing.
Don’t spread the virus, it’s a very vital issue,
Quickly turn to your elbow if you haven’t a tissue
No shaking hands, exercise in or out.
Don’t gather in crowds when you’re walking about.
Stay at home and be safe is what’s recommended,
Don’t forget the regulations, make sure they’re attended.
We’re all in this together, but please have no fears,
Co-operation will end it, should it take months or years
We’ll pray for our loved ones, victims of the virus,
Whose lives and example in this world inspired us.
This deadly global plague has taught us to ponder,
To appreciate others and take in God’s wonder.
To look out for each other, and especially our neighbour,
You will be rewarded, God will see all your labour.
This world’s a big place, and it’s not all about me,
Technology enables us billions to see
Corona is dangerous, more than just epidemic
The whole world is suffering, now truly pandemic,
But God’s over all, and He’ll see us through
We’ll gratefully thank Him for His love ever true.
Marian Hagan rsm
Dungannon, Co Tyrone
Lockdown 2
Dark skies pouring rain all day long
Pounding on rooftops,
Gushing down drain pipes,
Sloshing into drains,
A dark day flooding with dark news.
COVID is now sticking to us
Like glue dripping, creeping and sliding down
The outside of a jar,
Once again we are stuck in LOCKDOWN.
Standing inside looking out,
Living inside wanting out,
Longing and longing
To be healthy people living in
A healed, healthy world.
Rita Duignan rsm
Cavan
The Facilitative Leader Training Programme
When I was approached by Leadership about undertaking The Facilitative Leadership Training Programme I wasn’t overly enthused but on reflection I thought well since we are in lock down and can’t go to work I might as well give it a go anyway.
In all honesty I was never attracted to Leadership roles as I am much more a hands on person. Some of my thinking and hang-ups about Leadership role goes back to my early days in religious Life as I entered just when Vatican 2 was beginning to produce revolutionary documents which were to bring about a whole new way of thinking particularly in Leadership Roles and in Church Teaching. Evidence of these changes took a long time to reach ground level and I think we are still trying to rediscover their wealth today.
Far from being disappointed I have to say I felt truly blessed at the end of the two day Programme and was so grateful to God and to Leadership for providing me with the opportunity for this time of Learning and Personal reflection.
I felt it was a gifted time to spend in the company of 11 other Sisters from the Province to Learn, Share and Reflect together at a level we had never experienced in the Northern Province before. This was further enhanced by the quality of Teaching over the two-day Programme which was Facilitated, taught, and guided, with such wisdom, gentleness, respect and professionalism but above all making us so comfortable in getting familiar with the skills of engaging and managing Zoom live meetings which was so new to many of us.
I don’t want to give away too many secrets about the Workshop for those who are about to embark on the next Training Programme but if I point you to the Title of the Course therein you will find a clue as to how the Programme and Training develops. The operative word is “Facilitative” and from this you will glean enough to understand that how the Training emerged and was presented was very different in style and structure from what many of us were accustomed to in the past.
If I were to sum up the experience in a few words I would best describe the experience as Psychologically, Spiritually, Educationally and Emotionally renewing. The way the training was presented was a model of Working Together, mutual respect, understanding the Essence of Facilitative Leadership, individual discernment and managing change and all that, that entails for the individual including managing conflict in a healthy way.
What was I left with at the end of the Workshop? Clearly on reflection I could say a deep valuing and appreciation of the gifts of each person including diversity and managing this.
A deep appreciation for each group member feeling at times we shared “Sacred Space.”
I was left with a much more caring and reflective stance towards myself and others as well as many new insights.
I felt we had succeeded in developing a shared purpose as well as many new Insights into Participative Leadership and how to move forward.
I am so grateful for the insights gained over the two day Training and have revisited the Handbook many times to keep my mind and heart focused on what the New Learning means in my daily life and I will leave the closing words to our Facilitator and I quote,
“IT ALL STARTS WITH THE DECISION TO COMMIT TO WORKING TOGETHER WITH YOUR PEOPLE”
Kathleen Savage
Belfast
Lockdown Lament, February 2021
I won’t arise and go now, and go to Inisfree
I’ll sanitise my hands (again) and make a cup of tea.
I’d love to watch the setting sun go down on Galway Bay
Instead, I sit here by the fire with my supper on a tray.
And while I’d like to wander by Killarney’s lakes and fells
I’m still stuck here ‘cocooning’ in the dreary town of Kells.
I wander lonely as a cloud from the kitchen to the hall,
And stand and stare at the telephone and wonder whom I’ll call.
“I have no news at all” they’ll say, “I haven’t seen a soul.
I’ve only been to the shed and back to fetch a bag of coal.
I don’t know who’s divorced or wed, or who’s been dating whom,
And I’ve only seen the grand-kids on a fancy yoke called Zoom.”
I dream of lovely sunny days in Malta or Corfu
But I won’t be flying anywhere, and nor, I think, will you.
I’m finished with banana bread, board games and yoga too
And watching re-runs on T.V. till my face is turning blue.
They’re ‘rolling out’ the vaccine, but it hasn’t reached us yet
Meanwhile we follow rules laid down by the boffins in N-phet.
I never thought I’d see the day when Ireland’s pubs would shut
When we can’t play cards, or golf, or even a round of pitch and putt.
Can’t go to Mass, or a football match, a concert or a play,
Can’t even shop for clothes, they’re not essential so they say.
My most exciting trip today was to buy a frying pan
I thought I’d make some pancakes and enjoy them while I can.
If we escape the COVID, and the virus stays at bay
We’ll surely die of boredom, as we plod from day to day
My hair is long, my clothes are worn, my garden looks a mess
It’s hard to leave the bed each day and harder still to dress
Perhaps I’ll rise and go again to Inisfree some day
Or even book a trip to somewhere sunny, far away
But I’d skip the foreign holidays and weekends by the sea
If only I could meet some friends for a chat and a cup of tea!
Joan Dunne
Kells
