Spiritual Care - Spotlight - Peter

“The holiday season can be especially difficult for people experiencing illness or loss, or who can not be with loved ones due to hospitalization.”

Peter Lopinski is the Spiritual Care Coordinator at Joseph Brant Hospital. Since 2020, he has offered and coordinated spiritual support to patients and their families. We spent some time with him to learn more about his role and how he helps patients and their families through their journeys.

“It’s important to recognize that when a person gets sick, their world can be shaken.  People can experience a lot of unpleasant stuff triggered by illness: fear, loneliness, loss of hope and meaning. During difficult times like these, people often turn to spiritual resources and as they do, I’m available to support them.  Because spirituality is such a personal matter, the support we offer is always respectful of each individual’s unique journey and spiritual preferences.”

During the holidays Peter works to ensure that patients are able to practise traditions they would outside of the hospital.

“For some, there is comfort in practising familiar traditions that I can help to facilitate, whether that be the enjoyment of Christmas carols, the lighting of a Hanukkah candle, or other traditions. This year I will be partnering with our Recreational Therapist in leading a “mobile” mini-service that we will take to various clinical units across the hospital.”

As local faith communities are very important in providing spiritual support at JBH, Peter works to coordinate with other local faith leaders.

“We have an active roster of community faith leaders that provide 24/7 OnCall Chaplain availability. We also support pastoral visitation from community faith groups visiting their own hospitalized members.  Sometimes I’ll get a request from a faith leader to visit someone from their congregation – this happened a lot when visiting restrictions were in place due to the pandemic.  Partnering with the supportive community of local faith leaders has been a very gratifying experience for me.”

We asked Peter if he would like to share a memorable experience he had with a patient or their family.

“I’ve had the privilege over the years of having many inspiring moments.  Recently, I was able to help an elderly woman who was grieving the sudden death of her son.  Due to the pandemic and other circumstances there was no funeral, which compounded her grief.  I was able to create especially for her a memorial service, held in our hospital’s Sacred Space, that enabled the woman to share her stories, shed her tears, and say her goodbyes.  By her own admission, the service brought her peace.  It was a rich experience, made more poignant when I became aware of the woman’s own death just a few weeks later after discharge from the hospital.”

Thank you Peter for all that you do for our patients and their families!