At the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, a group of dedicated individuals of different faiths work together to take care of the spiritual needs of the patients.
Rabbi Pearl Barlev said working with patients, as well as hospital staff, is one of the most profound things she has done.
“It’s a microcosm of how I might imagine a perfect world to be,” Barlev said.
“Even though I’m working with people of varying religions, we’re all working with a passion for goodness, comfort and humanity just inside the walls of the hospital.”
The Spiritual Care Department has supported patients in their spiritual needs from a wide array of faiths, from Catholicism to Judaism, Islam to Buddhism.
The spiritual materials provided by the department span from Muslim prayer rugs to the religious items needed for a Christian baptism, and all of which are on hand for patients.
Barlev said a goal the center tries to accomplish is to help patients with anything a patient may need spiritually.
“As magnificent as medicine is and as advanced as we are, especially here at UCLA, there’s a place that medicine doesn’t enter,” she said.
Barlev’s colleague, Reverend Sandra Yarlott, is in her ninth year as the director of the Spiritual Care Department and has worked in her field for more than 20 years.
She said that she and her chaplains have been able to witness some extraordinary events of love and to become a special part of these patients’ lives.
Yarlott said on Fridays, the center provides Jewish patients with everything needed to celebrate Shabbat, which occurs from Friday at sundown to Saturday at sundown.
Shabbat is the weekly Sabbath or day of rest for followers of Judaism.
“We give them electric Shabbat candles since we can’t light real candles in the hospital,” Yarlott said. “We also give them challah from the bakery and grape juice, so they can do Shabbat in their own room.”
Barlev has the specific job of taking care of the needs of Jewish patients, but she and the rest of the staff have interfaith responsibilities as well. For example, though Barlev is Jewish, she also works with patients of other faiths, and patients who haven’t encountered religion at all in their lives but want spiritual guidance.
She said if she cannot help patients with their religious needs, she can make referrals.
The center works with community religious leaders who can assist if a patient has religious needs that cannot be fully met by the staff at the hospital.
Yarlott said there is an interfaith chaplain on call at the hospital 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
One thing they are often called to perform is an emergency baptism for babies who are born with severe health risks.
She said they also have spiritual scriptures for patients who might want to spend quiet time in their rooms reading the words of their faith.
Weddings have also been arranged inside the hospital walls.
“There was a man who had a prolonged disease for 15 years, and he and his caretaker never got married because he would lose his health insurance,” Yarlott said. “We arranged a wedding for him when it got closer to the end before he died.”
With a mission statement of education, the medical center is also accredited to run a training program for chaplains.
Yarlott said that in order to become a chaplain, one must get an undergraduate degree, get a master’s degree, complete a clinical residency and spend a year working before becoming certified.
The Spiritual Care Department also lists services that patients can attend, like Roman Catholic Mass, healing prayer services and recitation of Muslim prayers.
Barlev said that she feels privileged to do this work and to see patients have such strong spirits even though their bodies are breaking down.
“It’s an amazing thing walking into people’s most profound moments,” she said.