‘I had to believe more in God’ How faith and spiritual practices comfort and challenge hospital workers

At some moment since the pandemic began last year, who hasn’t questioned God or a higher power? The senseless deaths, families grieving loved ones from across a screen, layers of suffering.

Hospital workers, those committed to healing fellow humans and, when that becomes impossible, shepherding their souls and their families through the transition of death, are not immune from spiritual struggles. Chicago health care workers said faith or spiritual practices helped bolster them during the pandemic, even as they also wrestled with huge questions that, often, ultimately had no answer.

“We’re trying to put meaning to something that we don’t understand, or that is complex,” said the Rev. Andrew Travis, manager of spiritual care services at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital and Advocate Lutheran General Hospital.

As staffers sought guidance and support during a deadly pandemic, hospitals tried to create community, from creating meditative rooms to self-care programs. Some created gratitude efforts such as bringing tea and pastries around