As the Korean government declared on July 28 that the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak has effectively ended, chaplains at major hospitals in Korea have returned to their busy routine of worship services, prayer meetings, visitations, counseling, and cultural events.
The MERS outbreak provided an opportunity to think again about the ways of visitations by churches and believers to hospitals, because the current visitation culture directly exposes both patients and visitors to infections and the spread of contagious diseases.
Rev. Choi Hyeong-cheol, a chaplain at Severance Hospital, said, “This morning at eight o’clock we gathered for our staff members’ Wednesday Service, and offered prayers of thanks for the end of the MERS outbreak. It is fortunate that we didn’t have to encounter worse damage, but this outbreak made us ask ourselves whether we have been arrogant before God the Creator.”
In the photo, 14 patients and their guardians participate in “Daily Morning Devotions” on July 29 at Severance Hospital, at Yonsei University, Seoul, under the leadership of Chaplain Kim Byeong-gwon.
Reporters Yang Minkyeong & Jaechan Park (jeep@kmib.co.kr), with Yeara Ahn-Park (yap@kmib.co.kr)
Photo by senior reporter Kang Min Seok
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Hospital Mission Back on Track: “Thanks for end of MERS outbreak through national endeavor”
2015-07-30 17:19
