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Hospital Ministry

Hospital Ministry in the Mountains


The mountains of eastern Kentucky have become my psalter as I spend many hours daily carrying the healing motto of St. Joseph Hosptial..."The science of Medicine, The Heart of Compassion" to patients and their families in the five counties surrounding Neon. The upward thrust of the mountain roads virtually sweeps one up to sit in the blue heavens among the fluffy, white clouds that seem to be the ever present angels of prayer promised by Benedict.

The heavens declare the glory of God quite loudly in Kentucky.

The geography of eastern Kentucky is a constant surprise. Feeling like Alice in Wonderland I squeeze my wide four-wheel drive from broad two-lanes through tiny curving roads that reach out and welcome me to a narrower twisting road from which no reverse is possible. Oh dear, oh dear! I said aloud as the mountains enveloped me. And then just as I thought I had fallen into oblivion around another sharp curve of mountain a beautiful vista opens before my eues and a wide pathway carries me to another fascinating neighborhood Kentuckians call hollers.

Kentuckians like to mix things up. No cookie cutter neighborhoods for them. The rich and the poor, the trailer and the mansion, barns and lean-tos live with dignity side by side. Curioser and curioser, I thought. No one apologizes, no one brags. This piece of land has been in the family as far back as the oldest kin remembers. Land is dear to them.

Three generations of family may live here today but that is not enough. Kin are remembered in bright, flower bedecked cemeteries that dot many backyards. The dead are hardly gone; they are remembered with such care.

Most days I follow a coal truck spewing fumes and showering me with coal dust. I draw back to consider. The dilemma is real. An adequate paying job is a scarcity here. Young men wait in line to endanger their lives so they can improve them. No problem here is single-layered; no solution is single-generational. I skid over the coal dirt and pray.

Kentuckians have a wealth of deep faith. As I share with them in their homes I find a faith that is as natural as breathing and prayer that is as deep as their love for kin. Never embarrassed by prayer they share with me their deep respect and need for walking with the Lord or we have nothing. One woman speaking of the Resurrection said that . I hold that image in my heart.

Eastern Kentucky is a land of stark contrasts: a land of rich natural beauty and stark material deprivation; of poverty of education and wealth of natural wisdom; of caring flolks and un-caring systems; of simplicity of speech and depth of generous multi-generation care for neighbor and kin alike. Alice would have found a Wonderland in eastern Kentucky as I have.

And for now, THIS LAND IS HOME TO ME.


Email: rosalynosb@yahoo.com

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