A different way of treating patients

This article is adapted from the fourth edition of the Foundation’s magazine

Isabelle Gauthier has been a spiritual care practitioner at the Montreal Heart Institute for eight years. She’s always ready to lend an ear or a hand to anyone navigating the hustle and bustle of the hospital. Her work even earned her the 2023 Dr. Denis Roy Award of Excellence, in recognition of her exceptional contribution to the field. She told us more about this little-known profession and the vital importance of her role—one based on a sensitive approach to disease that benefits many patients every day.

Getting to the heart of the matter with spiritual care

What does a spiritual care advisor do? We asked Isabelle to take on the tricky task of defining her profession, and her response was an honest one. “That’s a good question, because our work can seem so enigmatic. People sometimes jokingly call me Sister Isabelle. Some people see my profession as having a religious angle, but religion rarely enters the equation,” she said.

“First and foremost, it’s about listening. Providing compassionate, personalized support without judgment or an agenda. We want to provide the patient with a space where they can share their truth in its entirety. Everything moves quickly in a hospital, and for the patient it can be quite hectic—they find themselves in a whirlwind of prognoses and medical procedures. The simple fact of sitting down with them and giving them that space, that time, and asking them what they’re going through, opens doors to help them cope with the disease. It’s actually very hands-on,” she said.

Treating more than the body

Isabelle’s work is focused primarily on establishing a helping relationship by providing patients with support that goes beyond the physical treatments they receive. It’s a holistic approach to care. “Disease has a way of making us lose our bearings and disrupting the bonds we have with loved ones. When I meet someone who’s going through an enormous upheaval, who’s trying to find some meaning, I try to carve out a zone of trust—a place where they can see how much they have within themselves. Of course, treating the body is important, and we have extraordinary teams who take care of that. What I can do is soothe open wounds. I might not be able to do anything for them in a physical sense, but everyone has an inner garden and I try to cut through the brambles and thorns to make it bloom a little bit. Another way of putting it is that I clear away the ashes and blow on the embers to reignite the flame. My work isn’t about saving lives, but rather helping people achieve some calm, to make their journey a bit more serene. I try to get the person to leverage their greatest assets, be it family, love, or the people they’re closest to. It might not seem like much, but when you take care of what’s on the inside, the outside benefits too,” she explained.

The importance of moral support in the face of heart disease

For the past eight years, Isabelle has been offering her support to those who set foot inside the MHI—a choice that is anything but random and a response to the inherent needs of those affected by cardiovascular disease. “There’s something very sudden, very dramatic about heart disease. Heart issues can completely change a person’s life. That means it’s a condition that’s accompanied by fear, shock and bewilderment. There’s no time to make sense of it… The head understands what’s going on, but the heart hasn’t caught up. I try to help the person through
this transition and learn to live with their new reality. It’s about figuring out how to come to terms with the situation emotionally, because heart disease can appear so suddenly. A heart is everything, and when patients learn something’s wrong with theirs, it can wreak havoc on the mind. There’s a lot to digest, both for the patient and their loved ones,” she said.

From one heart to another: the moving story of Frank Nguyen

Isabelle could tell hundreds of meaningful stories. She agreed to share the story of Frank Nguyen, who recently received a heart transplant.

“Frank was about to have his heart transplant surgery. I stopped by his room to support him through that life-changing event. He was holding a photo of his wife and daughter, and told me he was doing it for them. At that point, there was no one supporting and no one being supported—we were in it together, a moment of truth. He told me about his fears, his worries, how he had come to terms with the transplant. Sensing he needed someone beside him, I waited with him in the preoperative unit. I held his hand and he said, ‘I’d like you to put your hand on my heart. You’re going to be the last person who will feel it beat.’ That’s what’s so beautiful about my job. I’m not the only one giving the other person space to express themselves and to feel. They do the same thing for me. It was an extraordinary gift. Feeling a heart that has experienced love, fear, and so many other things. Feeling that heart for the last time… It was a moment of grace. I’d never experienced anything like it, nor have I since,” she said.

Advocating for spiritual care

In the current social context, where governments are increasingly moving towards secularization, the essential yet misunderstood work of Isabelle and her colleagues is under threat. “The subtleties of our tasks are not always understood. I’d like this profession as a whole to be more widely recognized, and to see a greater appreciation of the value and contribution of spiritual care practitioners in hospital settings,” added Isabelle.

A role the Montreal Heart Institute deems important

Isabelle also wanted to thank the Montreal Heart Institute for recognizing the value of spiritual care. “We’re lucky at the MHI, because the teams, nurses, and physicians here know what we do. They see the impact we have on patients and their families. They’re the first to see the benefits of our work and understand how we bring dignity to the process, how we bring a little bit of light to it. When I was nominated for the Award of Excellence, Dr. Roy said, ‘We don’t do enough to emphasize the importance of taking care of the person’s inner heart, of their suffering and emotional well-being. And yet without it, a part of the patient may continue to suffer. After all, a hospital is much more than a place that dispenses physical care,’ and I wholeheartedly agree with him,” she added.

Isabelle’s heart

If Isabelle’s heart could speak, here’s what it would say:

“I would like to quote philosopher Louis Lavelle. ‘The greatest good we can do for others is not to show them our value, but to reveal theirs to them.’ That’s what drives me as a spiritual care practitioner.”

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