My Saturday golf partner was a gastroenterologist on call. After the third phone interruption he showed his exasperation by mocking his patient, "Doctor, my belly hurts," he said sarcastically. Thirty years in practice have worn him down.    

   Caregiving is a matter of soul as well as body. 

   "There are only four kinds of people in the world," Rosalyn Carter wrote – "those who have been caregivers, those who currently are caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers."

   We are all caregivers or in need of one – or, importantly, both.

   When the body breaks it seeks repair. We want caregivers to fix what is broken. But, when caregivers limit their role to "fixing" they become mechanics. 

   Radical Loving Care, Good Samaritan care, offers more. You can see it in the face of the nurse. Her warmth is as important to her elderly patient as what runs through his IVs.

   The best caregivers know that illness shakes a patient's spirit. But, who cares for the caregiver's soul?

   Where attention goes, energy flows. Mountains of literature address caregiving. Precious little is written about caretaking the critical need to care for our caregiver's souls, to comfort them, to teach self-comforting, to tend to the exhaustion that can sap their heart's best energy.

   The caregiver's soul is watered by the wellspring of purpose. Repetition & fatigue can taint that water. 

   When the patient says, "Doctor, my belly hurts," that patient is also saying, "Doctor, my soul hurts. I want healing." When the doctor mocks that, he needs healing as well. He needs soul-support & the chance to rediscover the deep meaning of his mission. 

-Erie Chapman

Photograph of caregiving by Tia Ann Chapman, Hartford Courant