{"id":426,"date":"2020-09-23T16:09:36","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T16:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/features.unityhealth.to\/behind-the-mask\/?p=426"},"modified":"2020-10-13T17:34:24","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T17:34:24","slug":"virginia-macdonald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/features.unityhealth.to\/behind-the-mask\/virginia-macdonald\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia MacDonald"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Virginia MacDonald<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Spiritual Care Practitioner<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When things are dark, light becomes even more significant. That\u2019s when you really pay attention. So if a patient is able to articulate or at least hold on to their own internal sense of what brings them light? It goes a long way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I find light in the ever-present knowledge that what I do matters. It\u2019s the idea that how we live now impacts the generations to come. It makes my work, and my life, have a greater significance. It\u2019s not just about me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a very Indigenous perspective. I think motherhood helps to bring that on, and my age and looking at grandchildren. I\u2019m more aware of my actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been reminded recently that there have been prophesies about a great disease. I can\u2019t help but think, Wow, is this it? But there have been so many other devastating things that have happened to various First Nations. And yet, we\u2019ve endured. It\u2019s like well, it\u2019s just one more thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s our job to go to the edge, to not leave a distressed patient looking into the dark and feeling alone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What makes it hard, though, is the disparity of impact. This has opened up a vision that it\u2019s the poor who suffer more than anybody else. I bring that to work. I see it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I also carry the hopefulness and the grit from the people I know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I also think about how spiritual care practitioners work so much on the edge of that light and dark metaphor. It\u2019s our job to go to the edge, to not leave a distressed patient looking into the dark and feeling alone. There\u2019s no greater kind of aloneness than that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During this pandemic, I feel it\u2019s even more important to be a presence of hope, because there are so many things right now that can\u2019t just be fixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of us has to have our resources to turn to and take care of ourselves. I bike to and from work. I really need that rush of air to clean out any of the trauma, any of the extreme distress that I\u2019ve heard throughout the day. To let it go. So by the time I get home I feel refreshed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, what\u2019s spiritual about that is relating it to the air. To the spirit, to the breath. They are all intertwined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virginia MacDonald is a Spiritual Care Practitioner at St. Michael\u2019s Hospital.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As told to Hayley Mick. Photos by Yuri Markarov. This interview has been edited and condensed. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Virginia MacDonald Spiritual Care Practitioner When things are dark, light becomes even more significant. That\u2019s when you really pay attention. So if a patient is able to articulate or at least hold on to their own internal sense of what brings them light? It goes a long way. I find light in the ever-present knowledge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":427,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/features.unityhealth.to\/behind-the-mask\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/features.unityhealth.to\/behind-the-mask\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/features.unityhealth.to\/behind-the-mask\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/features.unityhealth.to\/behind-the-mask\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/features.unityhealth.to\/behind-the-mask\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/features.unityhealth.to\/behind-the-mask\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":673,"href":"https:\/\/features.unityhealth.to\/behind-the-mask\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions\/673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/features.unityhealth.to\/behind-the-mask\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/features.unityhealth.to\/behind-the-mask\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/features.unityhealth.to\/behind-the-mask\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/features.unityhealth.to\/behind-the-mask\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}