Covid19 & Patient Safety

Recently, our Guild has been active, assisting the Diocese on issues involving the COVID pandemic and its impact on Catholic patients.

One problem has been that Priests have been denied access to COVID patients’ rooms, to provide spiritual comfort in serious cases, where death is the most likely outcome.

The Diocese asked us to explore safe ways to permit Priests to have access to COVID patients in order to administer Anointing of the Sick.

We examined practices in other Dioceses, and took expert medical advice. The result: newly designed protocols that have now been agreed in discussions with senior management at the major hospitals in the Cleveland area, including The Cleveland Clinic ,University Hospitals and Metro Cleveland,

Priests are being specially trained by Guild members, in the correct use of PPE, and in safe ways to administer the Anointing of the Sick ,using cotton balls or Q Tips. A group of younger Priests in good health have volunteered to provide a round the clock service to hospitals. A central alert system has been established, enabling Pastoral Care, or medical teams, to call on Priests to attend and provide this important sacrament.

Hopefully these changes to patient access will bring much needed reassurance and comfort to Catholic patients in these challenging times .

Categorised in: Uncategorized