Silver Cross chaplain blessed nurse’s hands during Nurses’ Week 2021

Registered nurse Katrina Woods recently had her hands blessed – while on the job at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox.

“I say my prayers in the shower every day and ask God to conform my mind and my heart so I can come and take better care of my patients every day,” Woods said in a news release from Silver Cross. “This means quite a bit to me.”

Silver Cross chaplain Barbara Manning recently blessed the hands of the nurses at Silver Cross during National Nurses Week, which was May 6 to May 12 this year.

Manning, along with Chief Nursing Officer Michael Mutterer and Mary Shanahan, administrative director of nursing operations, nursing practice and nursing quality/safety, visited nursing units together to offer the blessing.

“It’s so nice just being able to take these few minutes with our nursing staff to renew them and give them additional strength to get through their days,” Mutterer said in the release.

Before the pandemic, Manning touched each nurse’s hand as she recited the blessing. But this year – as in 2020 – she just reached her own hands over theirs.

If any nurse missed the blessing, Manning ensured they still received one.

“I’ll get a call from a nurse or a nurse’s station saying, ‘I missed the blessing. Can I still get one?’ And the answer is, of course, yes,” Manning said in the release. “Sometimes, there will be a couple other nurses who also missed with them. They look forward to it. They think it’s something special.”

Before Manning became Silver Cross’ chaplain six years ago, she was an administrative assistant at the hospital. During this time, Manning developed a deep respect for the nurses and their dedication to their patients.

When she became chaplain, Manning resumed the traditional blessing of the hands at Silver Cross and was happy to do so.

“Oh my gosh, they are just so moved by it,” Manning said. “I just feel so privileged and honored to be able to pray with them and to thank them for staying true to their chosen vocation. And it is a vocation - and a calling.”

Manning also leaves a bookmark with the nurses that carries comforting words.

But although the nurses’ hands receiving the blessings, the blessings are not limited to the nurses.

For instance Danielle, Newell, a register nurse and shift coordinator, had an open heart surgery patient the day Manning visited.

As we’re getting blessed,” Newell said in the release, “We’re passing this on to our patients.”