COFFEE HOUR AT THE COMMONS
  • Home
  • About
  • Episodes
    • Season 1 >
      • Episode 0
      • Episode 1
      • Episode 2
      • Episode 3
      • Episode 4
      • Episode 5
      • Episode 6
      • Episode 7
      • Episode 8
      • Episode 9
      • Episode 10
      • Episode 11
      • Episode 12
      • Episode 13
      • Episode 14
      • Episode 15
    • Season 2 >
      • Episode 16
      • Episode 17
      • Episode 18
      • Episode 19
      • Episode 20
      • Episode 21
      • Episode 22
      • Episode 23
      • Episode 24
      • Episode 25
      • Episode 26
      • Episode 27
      • Episode 28
      • Episode 29
    • Season 3 >
      • Episode 30
      • Episode 31
      • Episode 32
      • Episode 33
      • Episode 34
      • Episode 35
      • Episode 36
      • Episode 37
      • Episode 38
      • Episode 39
      • Episode 40
      • Episode 41
      • Episode 42
      • Episode 43
      • Episode 44
    • Season 4 >
      • Episode 45
      • Episode 46
      • Episode 47
      • Episode 48
      • Episode 49
      • Episode 50
      • Episode 51
      • Episode 52
      • Episode 53
      • Episode 54
      • Episode 55
      • Episode 56
      • Episode 57
      • Episode 58
    • Season 5 >
      • Episode 59
      • Episode 60
      • Episode 61
      • Episode 62
      • Episode 63
      • Episode 64
      • Episode 65
      • Episode 66
      • Episode 67
      • Episode 68
      • Episode 69
      • Episode 70
      • Episode 71
      • Episode 72
    • Season 6 >
      • Episode 73
      • Episode 74
      • Episode 75
      • Episode 76
      • Episode 77
      • Episode 78
      • Episode 79
      • Episode 80
      • Episode 81
      • Episode 82
    • Season 7 >
      • Episode 83
      • Episode 84
      • Episode 85
      • Episode 86
      • Episode 87
      • Episode 88
  • Contact

Episode 63: Miracles in life, death, and chaplaincy

Today our guest is Kate McKey-Dunar. Kate hails from Minnesota but has been living in in New Haven for the past 5 years. She received her Masters of Divinity from Yale Divinity School in 2018. She completed her residency at Yale New Haven Hospital in the spring of 2019, and now is a chaplain at Backus Hospital in Norwich, CT. She is a postulant for the priesthood in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. 

Alli starts off the conversation asking Kate why she chose to go into hospital chaplaincy. When Kate was in college, her grandmother was passing away and Kate visited her in the hospice care and found herself interested in the role of the chaplains. After college, Kate worked at an inpatient hospice care in Madison, Wisconsin, and fell in love with the ministry. Kate chose to go to divinity school. Kate completed her Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) and fell in love with chaplaincy. After seminary, Kate worked in the cancer hospital at Yale New Haven Hospital. After her one year residency, she took the job at Backus Hospital. ​
Picture
Alli asks Kate, "What sorts of expectations did you have when you first stepped into a hospital?” Kate’s first expectation walking into the hospice experience was that she would just see a lot of death, and while that is true, she said that working in the hospital was the most alive she ever felt. For the hospital, it was a little different because people are in different stages of health. She was nervous going into the experience, but by the end she said her social skills have improved, and that being in the hospital itself is a trauma for people in and of itself. 

There is no typical day for a hospital chaplain, said Kate. Although, she does have a rather typical routine in the morning when she arrives to the hospital, and throughout the day, allowing for the emergency and unexpected to arrive. Kate responds to every emergency code in the hospital. 

Kate shares how her relationship with death has changed from working at in hospice and hospitals. Her relationship with death has developed into the understanding that God has never been more present than in that moment. She has seen so much peace given and God’s presence in those moments. The other side of the coin, Alli asks Kate how her relationship with life has changed. Kate says that now she has become more comfortable saying what is on her mind, when it is on her mind, because she feels an immediacy to tell those that she loves that she loves them. She also has found comfort in her daily routine and rituals, which give her joy.

Kate has developed a ritual while she drives to and from the hospital. This includes a particular signal to her husband when she has had a rather trying day — a simple hug. Kate has made it a point to not bring her work home with her, as a way to respect the boundaries established within her work within a medical field, and her husband. 

Alli asks Kate to share a story of miracle. Kate said most of the miracles she has witnessed have been in the form of being in the right place at the right time even though she had no reason to be there. She shares a story of visiting a patient on another floor, and how that one encounter came in handy two nights later in an emergency. Kate said stories like this have happened to her multiple times in various forms. There is a fluid line, but a line nevertheless, between chaplaincy work and therapy work. Kate has developed her own boundaries and rules to stand by with this work. 

Kate said her spiritual life has changed in a couple of ways: she in constantly listening for God in others, and in her work she lives in a Good Friday at her job, and because of that she is looking forward to Easter. 

You can find this episode and others on our website coffeehour.org. Be sure to like us on Facebook, and give us a follow on Instagram and Twitter. ​

In Christ and Coffee,
 Alli

SUBSCRIBE:

SPOTIFY
apple podcast
PODBEAN
RSS feed
STITCHER
​
@coffeehourpod
© COPYRIGHT 2020 ​ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About
  • Episodes
    • Season 1 >
      • Episode 0
      • Episode 1
      • Episode 2
      • Episode 3
      • Episode 4
      • Episode 5
      • Episode 6
      • Episode 7
      • Episode 8
      • Episode 9
      • Episode 10
      • Episode 11
      • Episode 12
      • Episode 13
      • Episode 14
      • Episode 15
    • Season 2 >
      • Episode 16
      • Episode 17
      • Episode 18
      • Episode 19
      • Episode 20
      • Episode 21
      • Episode 22
      • Episode 23
      • Episode 24
      • Episode 25
      • Episode 26
      • Episode 27
      • Episode 28
      • Episode 29
    • Season 3 >
      • Episode 30
      • Episode 31
      • Episode 32
      • Episode 33
      • Episode 34
      • Episode 35
      • Episode 36
      • Episode 37
      • Episode 38
      • Episode 39
      • Episode 40
      • Episode 41
      • Episode 42
      • Episode 43
      • Episode 44
    • Season 4 >
      • Episode 45
      • Episode 46
      • Episode 47
      • Episode 48
      • Episode 49
      • Episode 50
      • Episode 51
      • Episode 52
      • Episode 53
      • Episode 54
      • Episode 55
      • Episode 56
      • Episode 57
      • Episode 58
    • Season 5 >
      • Episode 59
      • Episode 60
      • Episode 61
      • Episode 62
      • Episode 63
      • Episode 64
      • Episode 65
      • Episode 66
      • Episode 67
      • Episode 68
      • Episode 69
      • Episode 70
      • Episode 71
      • Episode 72
    • Season 6 >
      • Episode 73
      • Episode 74
      • Episode 75
      • Episode 76
      • Episode 77
      • Episode 78
      • Episode 79
      • Episode 80
      • Episode 81
      • Episode 82
    • Season 7 >
      • Episode 83
      • Episode 84
      • Episode 85
      • Episode 86
      • Episode 87
      • Episode 88
  • Contact