This picture is not my hospital.  It does show a hospital with many parking spaces empty following a snow storm.  The snow storm today brought many changes to the Monday morning routine that are rare:

• Many parking spaces were empty.
• Many volunteers chose not to venture out in the weather.
• The normal line at the Pharmacy counter was non-existent.
• Patients received fewer visitors than is typical.

As I walked the hallways making my visits it reminded me of the pace we have on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Many of the patients seemed much more interested in my visits and the visits lasted long, which meant in total I made fewer visits.  Then it hit, when the patients had fewer friends and or family members coming to see them they were in higher need of the companionship a chaplain can provide.

With continued snow in other areas along the Northeast this dynamic will be replicated in many hospitals on Tuesday.  I pray that chaplains in those institutions will be present to help patients deal with the unplanned and uncontrolled detachment from their support network.