faith! - Kate Jones

Kate Jones, a registered nurse, remembers vividly the day she was making a house visit with an elderly patient in her home, and had an overwhelming sense that the extra time she had taken with the woman had probably been more important than the medical care she had provided.

At the time, Kate was a home health nurse, a dimension of health care she absolutely loved. “I can’t remember the conversation, but I remember walking out and going, ‘That was worth every extra minute I spent,’” she said.

“Sometimes I would walk out of a house and say, ‘Wow, that was a spiritual experience. Not only what I did for them, but what I learned from them,’” Kate said. “For many people, their faith is part of their health experience as well. In the home, it is easier to have that conversation.”

Today Kate isn’t on the frontlines of medicine like she once was, but as an associate professor in the University of South Carolina’s College of Nursing, she is teaching students who are. (Kate also is program director for the school’s master’s degree in Nursing Administration and its doctoral program in Nursing Executive Leadership.)

Conveying those lessons of personal care to her students, especially in the midst of a pandemic, is essential. The lesson is not always provided in a lecture, and when it is not, Kate hopes she models it in her interaction with her students. “Even though I don’t see most of my students face to face, we communicate with them a lot. How you convey, ‘Yes, we’re worried about you. We care about what you’re going through. Let us know if you need an extension’” is critical to teaching them how to care for their patients and themselves, she said.

Because her students are master’s and doctoral-level students, many are already working, taking classes online with the exception of clinical work. Kate is grateful she and her fellow staff members had given thought to how to provide support in an online environment before the pandemic struck.

“Ninety-five percent are working either fulltime or part-time … they have a ton on their plate,” she said of her students, noting that many are working in intensive care units or emergency rooms. They’re tired, overwhelmed, unsure, and, sometimes, scared.

Successful nursing so often is about the relationship one builds with a patient along with understanding the complexity of the medical systems one is working within.

“I try really hard to help these nurses know health systems are messy, not always linear, so if you can advocate for your staff and patient outcomes in the middle of the complexities and the chaos of health systems,” you’re doing good work, Kate said. Too often “we want things to be neat and tidy, and they’re not.”

Kate knows that is true in everyday life as well. Shortly before the pandemic, Kate moved her mother from Upstate New York to live with her here in Columbia. Kate is 61; her mother, 87. As she settled her mother into her home, Kate’s home health experiences came rushing back.

In home health, Kate loved how the environment allowed you to take in so much more about a patient than you might be able to in a sterile hospital room. You could see if a patient had adequate food, a safe home, and friend and family connections. Sometimes, you also could explore whether a patient was spiritually connected, which so often provides great comfort to older patients who are living alone.

Providing home health to her mother has taught her another aspect of this area of care – cutting oneself some slack.

Initially Kate thought online church would be a good way for her and her mother to attend church together and to stay connected to their faith. Kate grew up in a large Roman Catholic family that took its faith seriously – whether that be in providing in-home instruction when getting seven children to church proved to be too much, or in being expected to treat all people with love and respect. She recalled her parents exhibiting racial tolerance as well as acceptance of friends with a sexual orientation different from their own.

“They were very open-minded and very accepting of all people, and always connected that to Christ’s modeling.” She was taught that “we love all people the way Christ loved you.”

To actively live out that faith in the midst of the pandemic has been challenging, especially with the extra responsibility of her mother’s care. So, Kate has had to make some peace with what she can and cannot do.

Instead of stressing to get her and her mother in place every Sunday morning for St. Martin’s livestream service, she instead has adjusted their schedule so her mother can watch the online Catholic services she loves later in the day, and then Kate can slip away on her own to the afternoon outdoor service at St. Martin’s.

“That’s been helpful,” she said. The outdoor service is restorative, and the time away from home is short enough that she does not have to worry while gone.

Between teaching and caring for her mother, Kate also coordinates with her mother’s daytime caregiver and arranges some relief time with her sisters who live out of town. She also checks in with her two grown sons who live in Atlanta and Pittsburgh and has a close group of female friends she relies on. She reads when she can; takes walks and listens to Broadway tunes whenever possible. Attending Broadway shows is a favorite pastime she looks forward to resuming as soon as the pandemic is contained. She’s seen Hamilton four times, including once in London. Hugh Jackman’s “The Music Man” is on her must-see, post-pandemic list.

In the meantime, Kate is discovering that the lessons she teaches her students are important for her, too.

“Give yourself a little bit of grace because what you’re doing is prayerful and spiritual.’’

Kate Jones joined St. Martin’s in January of 2019 after an invitation from parishioner Jim Lamb.