The dying process is an intimate and often scary time. With that, spiritual practices can often bring comfort and peace to both guests and their families. From Seder meals to smudging to meditation beads to readings from the Psalms, Caring Hearts and Hands has embraced a myriad of different cultural and religious practices as guests of all different faiths come through their doors.
Heading up that process has been Fletcher Jackson, a hospice caregiver who has been with CHHC since their early days. Fletcher has recently stepped into the role of religious literacy consultant.
“If I can bring a book of sacred importance to somebody and come read to them, or if they want to pray a certain way, or anything else, I’m always enthusiastic,” said Fletcher, who graduated from Mizzou with a bachelor’s degree in religious studies and aspires to be a hospice chaplain in the future. “I know this is scary; you know, they’re in a whole new place, with new people taking care of them, and they’re dying, and there’s a lot of uncertainty. So if we’re able to incorporate those things that have brought them a sense of cosmic security in the past to Caring Hearts, I think that it’s going to be only of benefit to them. So I’m happy to do the legwork or the research or whatever that needs to get done.”
Practically, that job includes a lot of research. It started with a Jewish family coming in during Passover, which meant religious and cultural observations for the dying process as well as Passover. Fletcher pulled out a copy of the English Torah and other textbooks and wrote out some questions to ask the guest and his family: Does he wear a kippah or prayer shawl? Are we allowed to touch that? Do they want meat and dairy separated? Fletcher also made sure they had candles for Seder, among other things to make sure that CHHC was providing whatever the family needed to observe their practices.
“I really like the research aspect of it,” Fletcher said, “where I’m figuring out some creative problem solving to make sure that religious observances are observed, or if there are any other things that we can do to make them feel particularly at home.”
Caring Hearts has also had a guest from the Menominee Nation of Wisconsin, a guest who was a practicing Theravada Buddhist and Episcopalian, a guest who was interested in meditation and Wicca, and more, all of whom CHHC was able to provide special care for. Follow along with our newsletters to hear more of their stories.
“I think that it’s really kind of mesmerizing to have a glimpse into people’s personal, spiritual inner lives,” Fletcher said. “That is really a privilege, especially in times of such intensity, when somebody’s dying, it’s a privilege to be able to to be privy to how they’re processing that and what they need to process it more.”
