Faith Gives Me Hope – Episode 172
Download This Show: MP3 Download
For PC right click “Save As” – For MAC click the link and click the down arrow
Subscribe To Podcast: Apple Podcast | Google Podcast | Android Apps | Spotify | iHeartRADIO | Email
Featuring: Barry Calvert
Published: July 13, 2019
Barry Calvert, an occupational therapist at Cancer Treatment Centers of America, visits with the host of Health, Hope & Inspiration. He shares about his role in the long-term healing of cancer patients and how faith can strengthen a patient’s care plan.
Show Notes:
Barry Calvert, an occupational therapist at Cancer Treatment Centers of America, assists patients in building strength and stamina to return to meaningful activities of life—and he uses creativity. “Everything we do is directed purposefully toward patient-centered goals. So, it all depends on what the patient’s needs are and what they need or want to get back to doing.”
The faith aspect of Calvert’s life also is essential in how he builds relationships with those he coaches toward independence. “I do kind of operate from a basis of faith, that kind of guides my interaction with patients…, and I really just try to meet them kind of wherever they’re at and help them from a faith-based perspective in their journey.” In fact, Calvert thinks faith makes a big difference for his patients. That it “gives patients an extra pillar, a cornerstone to base what they’re dealing with on…it gives them an extra little bit of power.” In relationships where a patient cares about their spiritual life, Calvert often includes faith-based activities as a therapy goal if the patient requests it, such as attending a Bible study or church service.
In addition to physically helping patients, Calvert naturally becomes friends with patients through their long cancer journeys and sometimes he shares his faith life with them. “I’ve established relationships where my wife and I had dinner with patients and their spouses… we’ll pray for them during the dinner.”
While caring for cancer patients every day, Calvert’s faith sustains him. “In the grand scheme of things, it is my faith that gives me hope because I know that I have a purpose-driven life and support a higher cause so that I can wake up and move forward every day, and I know there’s a reason for the things that I’m led to do.”
Quotes:
- “This setting with cancer patients is unique in being able to spend that much time with patients over a long, long period of time — years. We see them for a long time. And so, the ability to establish that relationship and to really walk the walk and be a part of their journey is very rewarding and fulfilling and very much different than working in most other settings.”
- “I think it (faith) makes a big difference. Faith gives patients an extra pillar, a cornerstone to base what they’re dealing with on. You know, it gives them an extra little bit of power.”
- “In the grand scheme of things, it is my faith that gives me hope because I know that I have a purpose-driven life and support a higher cause so that I can wake up and move forward every day, and I know there’s a reason for the things that I’m led to do.”
Resources:
CLICK HERE to download this week’s resource: “Foods of the Bible”
Learn More:
