The increasing rate of COVID infection related to the delta variant of the corona virus is a concern to everyone. The church board will continue to monitor the situation with input from our Reopening Task Force, and will make changes to our current reopening plan if they seem needed (updates are posted at firstuunash.org/re-opening-information). For now we will continue to have in-person social hours with masks inside and without masks outside. Small groups can continue to meet at church using the same mask guidelines. Members are encouraged to get vaccinated if they have not done so already, to reduce their risk of serious infection.
July 27, 2021
“You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses.”
-Anonymous
My parents begged me from afar to go to the walk-in clinic for the nagging cough, sore throat, fever, body aches, and headache I’d had for four days this month. I reluctantly went in at 9 a.m. only to be told that I had a virus (that wasn’t Covid, strep, or the flu) and that it would just have to work its course.
I don’t know about you, but it seems each time I go in for one medical reason, I find out about another. This time, feverish and hardly in the mood for it, they worked to flush out wax build-up in my ear to no avail and scheduled me with a specialist (because they could not see my ear drum, they didn’t want to keep trying). Then, because my heartrate wouldn’t go below 124 the entire time I was sitting there, they had to check a possible cause for that and my test came back positive for a pulmonary embolism, so I was sent to the ER for a CAT scan.
Was I worried? Nope. This had happened before and it was nothing, so though I didn’t feel up to it, I drove myself to the ER and I was just going through the motions again, as instructed.
I sat in the ER waiting room for at least six hours before a bed was available. I was freezing and just wanted a bed and a warm blanket or more, to be home in mine. I learned the names of all those waiting with me as each was called back at least four times (including me)(for triage, registration, blood work, vitals, and then their scans/X-rays) and returned to the waiting room to wait. Struggling to stay awake so I wouldn’t miss my name being called, I learned both first and last names for those with difficult last names to pronounce like mine. To one side of me was a man with a badly swollen face from a tooth ache. On my other side was a woman with an ear infection that had moved to her brain. There were a couple of homeless people–one muttering constantly but undecipherably, the other pacing nervously, almost violently, staring back and forth making others very uncomfortable. And then the room was filled out with others with various wounds, broken bones, and complications that should have been private, but a cell phone conversation to a loved one who couldn’t be in the room due to Covid protocols in a crowded waiting room, isn’t private, is it? One woman fainted while waiting her turn.
I couldn’t help but wonder why there weren’t enough beds. Surely this isn’t the only time this happens. And I couldn’t help but think that we are a sick nation with not enough focus on good health and with a very broken health system. I watched as people could barely walk when called and it made me sad. Then I think about the “angels on earth” who deal with this broken scene every day: the nurses, the administrators, doctors, and especially the ER doctors like Doug Pasto-Crosby. We are lucky to have a few medical professionals in our congregation. And we are also lucky to have volunteers such as our caring committee (caring@thefuun.org) and our lay ministry team* (layministry@thefuun.org): Lisa Pasto-Crosby, Doug Pasto-Crosby, Jean Kline, Hal Potts, Sandye Wallick, Victoria Harris and Spanky, Elisabeth Geshiere, Rev. Holly Mueller, and Rev. Cathy Chang. If you do not know about them, please visit firstuunash.org/lay-ministers-and-pastoral-care. These professionals who treat, talk with, assist, and sit with the sick are very special people, the roses to be celebrated among the thorns.
I went to St. Thomas once and told them my religious affiliation was Catholic. My excuse was two-fold: that I really wasn’t feeling well enough to explain Unitarian Universalism at the time and I knew how much my answer meant to the nun asking the question, having grown up in a strict Catholic family. This time, however, when asked at Vanderbilt, I said my religious officiation was Unitarian Universalism. The employee’s response was “I didn’t know about that one” and that’s on us. Do you declare your religious officiation at the hospital and if not, why not?
I managed to be home back in my bed at 2:30 a.m. only to wake up at 8:30 a.m. with a swollen tongue. But the CAT Scan was clear so something else causes the positive test result again–maybe we’ll never know what. Sigh. But at least one new person now knows that Unitarian Universalists exist, so my expensive visit wasn’t a total waste. I proceeded to spend the next 6 days with a fever, eating only one bowl of soup in 5 days time. I was happy when that finally ended and I never take a feeling good day for granted.
I wish health to those who are ill; and thanks and blessings to those who work with the sick professionally and voluntarily – you are truly special people.
-Sheri DiGiovanna
Director of Communication
communication@firstuunash.org
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*Lay Ministry and Pastoral Care: Lay Ministers are volunteers from our congregation who are trained in compassionate listening and caring. They are available to support those who would welcome a visit or who are experiencing difficult circumstances or times of transition. The goal is to provide a ministry of hope and caring so that no member of the congregation need suffer or struggle alone through life’s hard times.
Lay Ministers may visit members who are ill at home or in the hospital; support those who are going through a major life transition or personal crisis; maintain contact with those unable to attend church due to illness or disability; support family and friends involved in care giving; comfort the bereaved; provide support that is ongoing; assist with spiritual support; and help a person find additional resources they need.