TYLER, Texas — Every day doctors and nurse remain on the front lines of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. There are also the unseen heroes who work alongside them caring for patients and their families.
"I think on an everyday basis that compassion tugs at our heart, wishing we could do more," assistant chaplain at UT Health East Texas, Robert Stovall, said.
Stovall and Perry Edwards are chaplains at the Tyler hospital. "Our role here is to walk with people here through their healthcare journey," Edwards said. "Paying attention to the things they're bringing in with them that are more than just the physical."
The number of patients treated at Tyler hospitals changes everyday, according to the Northeast Pubic Health District.
Currently more than 100 people are hospitalized due to COVID-19.
"We meet with a lot of families at the front door," Edwards said. Due to COVID-19, families are not allowed inside the hospital. "We meet with a lot of families outside in the parking lot, which is a good place for them to be to express those emotions. To be able to yell and scream and rant and rave at us because they can't be able to get in the door."
Edwards and Stovall are trained to assist patients, families, and staff by providing support throughout the healing process. Their job, however, has grown through the COVID-19 pandemic. They're also seen as surrogate family members sometimes carrying along messages directly from the family member to the patient.
"I had a great call," Stovall said. "[A family] wanted me to go down and make a visit to one of their family members and it was, ‘Be sure to make sure that uncle so-and-so says, ‘I love you and I’m praying for you,’" he said. "So, you know, just some pretty crazy things there of working with families and going in and doing some things you normally wouldn’t do. Kind of representing that family if you will."
In addition to their work with patients are the work with hospital staff.
"I like to really express and reinforce that there's hope from the spiritual side, there is hope, and it's just a way to encourage our nurses, employees, doctors, and everyone," Stovall said.
Edwards and Stovall say while dealing with COVID-19 everyday is real and can be scary, they choose faith over fear.
"Faith is such a stabilizing factor something to stand firmly on when everything else is just crazy," Edwards said.