Diocese of Innsbruck: Don’t leave health workers alone
Especially during the pandemic, it is important not to leave health workers alone with their worries. The diocese of Innsbruck then drew attention to the expected church “World Day of the Sick” (February 11).
“Hospital chaplains are also important contacts for patients, relatives, but also staff,” emphasized Hildegard Anegg, head of hospital chaplaincy at Tirol Kliniken.
It is not important which religion someone belongs to, says Anegg: “Even if you just need someone to talk to. Anyone can wish for pastoral care, you only need that for the nursing staff. But, “we in the health professions must also take care of ourselves,” says Vogetseder, because “charity always needs self-care.”
In the medical field, too, it is confirmed that help for others can best be provided when things are going well, emphasized Walpurga Weyrer, medical director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Innsbruck: “Of course, the profession is also a calling – the original motivation was for me yes to help and heal people. But you also have to take care of yourself in order to be able to devote yourself to this task properly.” However, this is easily neglected when “statistically evaluable standards” apply to the work of the health workers, warned the palliative doctor Weyrer: “For example, if The maximum time a patient consultation may last is specified.”
“We are only humans!”
Vogetseder and Weyrer both see great – often excessive – expectations placed on people in healthcare professions. “Society often has a role model of us – invulnerable, infallible. But the reality is, we’re only human!” Weyrer emphasizes. Vogetseder confirms: “We are not superheroes, but people who do their work conscientiously to the best of their ability!”
Pope Francis calls in his this year’s message for the “World Day of the Sick” to constant human closeness with patients and thanks the health workers for their work: “Dear health workers, your service to the sick, carried out with love and skill, goes beyond the limits of your profession and becomes a mission,” writes of the pope. This commitment can be a sign of divine mercy. “Be aware of the great dignity of your profession, but also of the responsibility that it entails,” said Francis.
background
The “World Day of the Sick” was introduced by Pope John Paul II in 1993. It falls on February 11, the memorial day of “Our Lady of Lourdes”. The motto of this year’s 30th World Day of the Sick is “Be merciful, as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36). The Pope publishes a message on this every year in advance.
(cap-skr)