Today as I pulled into the post office to ship out one of my ebay items, I immediately noticed 2 police cars attending to a vehicle that had crashed into the front/side post office building. I soon found out that the person had put the car into drive instead of reverse and pressed the gas petal, making her crash into the building. She also had children in the car with her. Emergency people were on their way (I could hear the sirens in the distance). I parked a safe distance away and walked into the building from the other door where I noticed pieces of brick and glass in the entry way. I made my way into the post office, did my business, and walked out soon after the ambulance had arrived. People were milling about, mostly family members I'm assuming, and someone was being put on a stretcher.
Many things went through my mind at this point.
One, I am not a doctor, so there is really nothing I can do.
Two, should I see if there is something I can do?
Three, should I go over to the panicked group of people, say I'm a pastor, and offer to pray with them?
Four, should I go on my way, let the emergency responders do their work and stay out of the way?
Five, should I just offer a prayer for them as I leave the parking lot?
Four and five were the options I chose. I went to my car, said a prayer for them, and went on with my day. But as I pulled away, I couldn't help but wonder, what is the proper response for pastors in situations like this? We want the medical team to do their work and to not cause any distraction or further danger. But...in CPE, I know that chaplains are called upon in similar situations to provide pastoral care, but in a hospital setting where the person is already under medical attention and care. Is there really a difference? There were people gathered around that were not being taken away in the ambulance. Maybe I could have provided pastoral care for them, or maybe they would have refused. Or maybe they were too busy making phone calls or taking care of whatever business needed to be done. There are many what ifs. I still don't know if I made the right move or not. I'd like to get some feedback on this.
Pastors, what would you have done???
Thinking about Protocol Droids
1 week ago
2 comments:
There really isn't a right answer. You should only go over if you can be sure that the situation is safe, making sure there isn't leaking gas and sparks, for example. Since cops were already on the scene, it was probably the right decision to stay back, say a prayer, and let the emergency responders do their work.
So - here's the weird thing. I was actually reading this for the first time at the hospital on call. I think it was like 5 in the morning and I was coming back from a call.
My first instinct was to jump into CPE mode, say that there is plenty for you to do as a pastoral presence. Then I realized that the real world is not CPE :) and things would be different.
I think it depends on each situation. If it were my mom, she probably would have stopped, but she is the pastor of a church in a town of 3,000 and knows everybody. She's used to be on the fire department and would be helpful for crowd control. But I'm not sure that if I were pastoring a church in Atlanta and the system was different I would stop.
Sounds like you did the right thing!
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