Code Blue

One of our ministries in Davao City is chaplaincy to San Pedro College. Beside the campus is San Pedro Hospital. The Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Trinity administers the college and the hospital. The Missionaries of the Infirmed are the chaplains of the hospital.

There was one occasion when the chaplains of San Pedro Hospital had to be out for a week, and so the sisters who are in charge of the Pastoral Care Services of the hospital requested me to act as substitute chaplain for a week. The schedule of my duty as substitute chaplain was from 6:00 in the evening until 6:00 in the morning. Another substitute chaplain was also requested by the sisters to take the day shift, which was from 6:00 in the morning until 6:00 in the evening.

On my first night of duty, the sister in charge of the Pastoral Care Services office gave me an orientation of the duties of the chaplain and also a tour of the hospital. The hospital chaplain has a room at the second floor which has an office and a bedroom with a toilet and bathroom. One of the primary duties of the chaplain is to celebrate the daily mass in the hospital’s chapel at midday, shortly before lunch time. Another is to administer the sacrament of anointing of the sick upon the request of the patient, their family members or hospital staff. Sometimes some patients or members of their family also go to the chaplain for counseling or spiritual advice.

I came to know the various sections and wards of the hospital when the sister in charge gave me an orientation. I found out that there is an Intensive Care Unit for adults and a separate Intensive Care Unit for children or PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit). There is also a section known as Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or NICU. This section is for new born babies who are critically ill. It is in the Intensive Care Units where majority of the requests for Anointing of the Sick are administered. We also visited the various sections and wards of the hospital, while the sister introduced me to the hospital staff as the substitute chaplain. I can tell that the emergency room is one of the busiest or in hospital parlance, the most toxic among the sections in the hospital. It is in the emergency room that the cases are unpredictable and are outside of the routine schedule.

After the orientation, I went back to the chaplain’s office and said my evening prayers. I took my dinner with the sisters at the Mary Magdalene convent located at the top floor of the hospital. After dinner, I went back to the chaplain’s office and watched television for a few minutes and then checked on my e-mail on my net book computer that I have brought along with me. As evening grew deeper, I slowly felt sleepy, because it was very quiet inside the room. After waiting for a few more minutes if there might be a call for anointing, I finally went to bed at around 11:00 in the evening.

The following morning, I was awakened by a call on the intercom at about 5:00 am. The person at the other end of the line told me that I need to go to the emergency room immediately on “Code Blue”. Not having any idea what “Code Blue” meant, I asked the person on the line what I needed to do. I was told that I had to administer the sacrament of anointing of the sick to a patient at the emergency room. And so I dressed up immediately and picked up the anointing kit and went down to the ER.

When I arrived at the emergency room, the nurses were alternately taking turns in pumping the chest of the patient while another one continuously pumped the ambo bag. It appeared that the patient had a cardiac arrest. A few steps away from the bed were family members quietly trying to hold their tears as they helplessly looked on. I stood beside the bed, while the nurses desperately tried to revive the patient. After about ten or fifteen minutes, the doctor told the nurses to give way for me to administer the sacrament of anointing of the sick. Before I left, I told the family members to continue to pray for their mother who they said was already 85 years old.

The following evening when I reported for duty, the sister in charge told me that the patient at the emergency room expired that morning. I told her that she forgot to tell me what “Code Blue” meant. I found out later that “Code Blue” is used in case of respiratory and cardiac arrest, and where the life of the patient is threatened.