New Hospice chaplain is Middletown native

Source: Middletown Journal, OhioSept.迷你倉新蒲崗 05--MIDDLETOWN -- While the new chaplain of Hospice Care of Middletown started work only Monday, she didn't have to familiarize herself with the the city too much. The Rev. June Downing is a Middletown native who has returned home full time after nearly 5o years."I was retired and I was going to stay retired. And I enjoyed that all I could stand. I had to do something. And I realized that I had more to live and I just couldn't quit," said Downing, who retired from being a hospital chaplain in Lubbock, Texas. "I had more to give," she said. She replaces the Rev. James Kinser, who died earlier this year.Downing came back to Ohio wanting simply "to be present" for people nearing the end of their life, she said."You have to be a good listener for sure, and someone with compassion, with a deep, personal faith," she said. "I worked in a large hospital, and I would see patients daily ... you build a rapport with people, and you begin to understand them, and they begin to trust you. That's just a beautiful thing," Downing said.This is the first time she has been chaplain for a hospice, which means that "every patient you know you're going to lose. That would make a real difference," she said.Lois Allen has been serving as the interim chaplain on a volunteer basis and has found that every stor迷你倉出租 is not only different, but has people at different stages of grief. A hospice chaplain not only serves the patient, but their family as well, she said."There's those people who already have a strong faith, who are very aware and are accepting of the reality of the situation. But then their family might not be on that same page, and they might be struggling," Allen said. "Sometimes the patient may not be able to talk much, but they're aware of your presence."Although Downing is new to being a hospice chaplain, she had qualities that won her the job, which had 40 applicants, five of whom were interviewed, said Mary McGee, the clinical director for Hospice Care of Middletown."The thing that we came away with as far as June goes is her presence -- her ability to have a conversation about spirituality that kind of transcended what we were thinking ... she said the thing about death is God is always there. And that's so true," she said.Although death is final and often tragic, "You haven't lost. The family's experiencing terrible loss, and I don't mean to minimize that, but the person has won the greatest battle of their lives," Downing said.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Middletown Journal (Middletown, Ohio) Visit the Middletown Journal (Middletown, Ohio) at .middletownjournal.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉