“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.” Psalm 133:1-3
Our wards in the field hospital are very much set up like units within a typical hospital. We have IV pumps, vital sign machines, pulse oximeters, crash carts, patient charts, a nurse’s station and even shelving stocked with all sorts of supplies. Among all of the similarities, there is one main difference that has really caught my attention over the past week.
In the hospital setting, patients are always hopeful to receive a private room and many are even quick to complain when that does not fall into place for their stay. And in all honesty, I was right there with them. Even from the nursing perspective, I would travel to a new hospital and immediately crinkle my nose when I heard that there were only double rooms throughout the unit. “These people are sick and deserve their privacy,” I would think.
Here in the wards, our patients won’t find themselves in a private room, because we don’t have them. Each ward can accommodate up to nine patients, and though each bed is parked under a sign with a designated room number, only a curtain separates one patient from the next.
Had I walked into a hospital on a travel assignment just weeks ago, and been invited into an open unit in which each bed were separated in this way, I would definitely have had some hesitations and concerns. However, those thoughts have truly been transformed as I have observed the many, and I mean many, benefits of the open ward. Though the beauty of it is truly inexplicable, I will do my best to lay out just a few of the things that I have noticed over the past few weeks.
Comfort. Our patients know that they are never alone. Not only can they see, or at the very least hear, us at all times, they are also surrounded by eight other people in similar situations, and not to mention the many other staff members that come through the ward at various times throughout the day, such as our chaplains or our transport team. Our patients can find great comfort in knowing that when we tell them we will be checking on them as we wean their oxygen, that we will actually and truly be right there, watching over them with each pass by their room.
Accountability. Our patients can see us all of the time. Simply knowing this keeps us available to them all of the time and thus, it helps to keep me accountable in being intentional with my time. When working in the hospital, it is so easy to get sucked into sitting at the nurse’s station with any free time in the day rather than using the time to intentionally get to know your patients beyond their bed number and current medical problem. I’ve been there and I’ve done exactly that. However, especially in the midst of COVID and knowing that our patients are completely without visitors in their sickest of times, my eyes have been reopened to the importance of intentionality within the work place and the opportunities that have been placed before me, no matter the setting.
Comradery. The Merriam-webster dictionary defines comradery as, “a feeling of friendliness, goodwill, and familiarity among the people in a group.” I cannot even begin to put words to how rich this is to witness within the ward. The nine patients in those beds may not have a single thing in common, aside from their battle against this virus, yet one by one, they begin to form bonds. I can’t tell you how many times I have had a patient ask me if their neighbor is doing alright. Eventually, they begin to talk. They begin to care for and encourage one another. They begin to journey together, at least for a little while.
As I was thinking through these things, and the beauty that I have observed, I was met with one question.
How often in life do I try to shut myself in a private room when truly, I have been created to be in an open ward?
It is so easy to purposely step away or simply take a step back from community and even more so over this past year as COVID has provided us the perfect excuse to self-isolate.
To answer my own question – I am so often in search of a private room. I will spend time with a community, but once things get too close, I retreat back to my private residence and just get comfortable for a while. I even try to justify my choice to isolate in saying, “God is enough. He and I can just spend time alone instead.”
But as I looked around the ward, soaking in the many benefits of the openness, I was reminded of the intended beauty to be shared within our community in the kingdom of God. I was reminded that God didn’t create us to self-isolate in a room, but to walk openly, boldly, and confidently with our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. I was reminded of the many things that I would miss out on if I continue to seek the comfort of my private room.
God didn’t create us to comfort ourselves, but to comfort each other.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
He didn’t create us to keep ourselves accountable, but to keep each other accountable, as our own flesh is bound to fall alone.
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
He didn’t create us to be alone, but to enjoy the comradery of mere strangers in this world.
“Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Just as these patients have formed great bonds through the lone commonality of a battle with the virus, we too are called to comradery in a battle between sickness and healing. Friends, this is a battle much to big to fight alone, and why would you, when you have the opportunity to be surrounded by your eternal family, united in the strength of Christ?
Stop trying to fight this battle alone. Step out of your private room and admit yourself to the open ward of the kingdom today, trusting God to fill the beds around you according to His good and perfect will.
