They’re not there to stop the bleeding or put out a fire.
Instead, they’re the comforting voice.
Whatever the emergency, whether it’s a house fire, a car wreck or an accident in the home, the Lewis County Chaplaincy is there, helping.
For six and a half years, volunteer Brian Carter, an assistant pastor at First Christian Church in Chehalis, has rushed to an emergency in the Chehalis area whenever called. On a busy month, Carter — one of 20 chaplains volunteering in the program — will be called out on three incidents.
“It’s pretty traumatic,” Carter said. “Our job is to be there with the family and offer some companionship, offer some comfort there for the family as they try to sort it out.” The entire chaplaincy program might get as many as 20 calls in a month. The most common call is a death, either an elderly person dying of natural causes or someone suffering a heart attack.
The Lewis County Chaplaincy is a non-profit organization comprised of local pastors who volunteer to counsel victims of an accident and are affected by an emergency. They partner with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, the city police department, the Lewis County and City Fire Departments and the Washington State Patrol.
The entire chaplaincy program might get as many as 20 calls in a month. The most common call is a death, either an elderly person dying of natural causes or someone suffering a heart attack.
To become a chaplain, Carter went through a week-long, 48-hour training at an academy in Burien. But prior to attending the academy, anyone wanting to become a chaplain must volunteer for a year.
“We like to see that they are dedicated to what they are doing,” Carter said. “And prove themselves to be a valuable asset.”
The training at the academy includes training from the police, EMT and fire departments. Insight to what they do and how they do it is given.
“When we respond and we go on to a scene, what they’re doing isn’t all foreign to us,” Carter said.
For instance, when there is a call to a house fire, the chaplains can help explain what’s going on.
“There’s a family displaced and they’re sitting out on the curb watching their house burn down,” Carter said. “We can sit there and they can be asking us questions.”
When they’re chopping a hole through the roof of their home, they may ask why are they doing that.
“We kind of act as the liaison, or a go between,” Carter said. “The firefighters, they do what they do and they can concentrate solely on that. And we have the responsibility of sitting with the victims. And or survivors, as the case may be. It just frees up the emergency responders to do what they need to do.”
In addition to comforting people involved in an emergency situation, these chaplains also counsel the first responders, the fireman who helped put out a fire or the policeman who helped in a car accident.
Just like the first responders, the chaplains have that it need to lighten their own burden, the stored grief from what they’ve seen at an accident. The emotional baggage can build up, that sense of grief for someone else’s loss or injury.
They get together once a month and share their sorrows.
“We have the opportunity to debrief among ourselves,” Carter said. “We talk these things out. Talk through our responses. We have an exchange of wisdom. Gives us a sense of closure. We counsel each other that way.”
For Carter, his decision to volunteer with the Lewis County Chaplaincy came from this sense of wanting to help.
“All I can say is that it was a calling,” Carter said. “We have some chaplains who have some pretty compelling stories in how they were impacted by an emergency responder. For me personally, it was a matter of the Lord speaking to my heart. I don’t know how else to explain it.”
The Lewis County Chaplaincy, which was formed in 1989, is currently wanting to create a full-time position, a paid administrative job that would require donations to cover costs. Funding would not come from any government agency. To donate or to get more information about the agency go to lewiscountychaplaincy.org.
