Freedom to Spiritually Serve Patients - Episode 170 - Health, Hope & Inspiration : City of Hope®

Freedom to Spiritually Serve Patients – Episode 170

Download This Show: MP3 Download

For PC right click “Save As” – For MAC click the link and click the down arrow

Featuring: Vera Boone

Published: June 29, 2019

Rev. Percy McCray sits down with Vera Boone, a radiation-oncology physician assistant, to talk about how her work as a clinician and her faith helps to support, strengthen and encourage patients for their respective cancer journeys.

Show Notes:

Vera Boone is a veteran. A hospital is her front line, and the enemy is cancer. For 21 years, Boone has worked as a physician assistant, and she can’t think of anything else she’d rather do. “Working here, I feel like you can give people hope and purpose and help strengthen them for the journey that they’re undertaking,” she says. “I feel like I can express my own beliefs here freely.” But Boone understands that freedom comes with responsibilities. “You have to be sensitive to the patient. But sometimes you just sense and I feel free to ask them, ‘Can I pray for you? Can we pray together?’ And that’s one of the things that is really a blessing.”

Boone has also brought her faith and her skills as a clinician to the mission field, which feeds her desire to bring hope and health to those who need it. She expresses excitement in being part of the latest advancements in cancer treatment, believing it is a great time to be part of the cancer community. When asked about the one thing that gives her hope, Boone says simply, “My faith and seeing what is being done in the field and just the ability to talk about spiritual things with patients.”

Quotes:

“It’s interesting because I think, when you hear the word ‘cancer,’ all of a sudden, things kind of come in perspective. Life could end at any moment. It can do that for everybody. So that’s one thing that I do remind people—none of us are promised anything beyond the moment we’re in.”
“The last [mission trip] that I went to was in Colombia, and it was with a gentleman from my church that has a ministry that serves the Colombian people. We were the first medical team, and it ended up I was the only medical person on the team. But we worked with a local doctor, and we were very cohesive, and the goal was, partly, outreach. We weren’t going to cure anybody of any major disease, but it was a way to reach out to the people and help them get connected.”
“We’re all eternal beings, and it’s important to support [patients] in what they’re physically going through, but also spiritually, they need to maybe sometimes be prepared for what’s going to happen for their family’s sake and even just for their own peace.”

Resources:

CLICK HERE to download this week’s resource: “4 Things Every Cancer Patient Must Do”

Learn More:
CTCA | Tulsa, OK