Ascension Via Christi chaplain helps unit clerk overcome momentary frustration

"Well, NOT me!!!" wrote Werth, a unit clerk on the 7N Oncology Unit at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis who works from 3 - 11 p.m., supporting both day and night shift staff.

Even so, the typically even-tempered Werth, who has served on the unit for six of her 16 years at St. Francis, had a self-described "slight melt down" at work the other night.

A new software system application launched earlier in the day got the best of her and she felt as though she might be the one in need of care.

Her teammates were so concerned to see her so flustered and frustrated that they asked Chaplin Cecil Lilliston to pay her a visit.

"lCecil went on a mission to find me, hold me close and not let go!" says Werth.

Seeing her distress, Lilliston took her down to the cafeteria, bought her dinner and then returned with her to the floor and talked her through her momentary crisis.

"Cecil is someone who I can talk to pretty openly and who gets my jokes," says Werth, who learned long ago that the hospital chaplains are there for the staff as well as patients and families.

"They are an amazing source of support for the whole hospital. I feel so blessed to have a chaplain who I consider a really good friend and a nursing staff who I know truly cares about me!"

Werth says she appreciates serving on a unit where the nurses she supports all jump in to help her when she's the one struggling.

"I feel like a big ole momma bear and that's truly a lucky and blessed feeling," she wrote. "Where else could I find that kind of care and love?"

With her team's support and encouragement to take a moment for herself, she says, within an hour or less she was "old hat at the system."

Werth concluded her Facebook post with some advice for others: "Find a job where you are loved and that you love right back and it will not be just a job. It will become a passion."