Volunteer
Chaplain

•

Along with
public
relations
and radio,
Terry T. Brown
wears another
hat with the
grief-stricken.

DAVID KOTZEN-REICH

Special to The Jewish News

•

erry Brown always
wanted to be a rabbi,
but one thing or an-
other got in his way.
Then, about two years
ago, he got his wish. Sort of.
Mr. Brown, who many
might recognize for his week-
end traffic reports on WWJ-
AM, is not ordained. But he
performs chaplain service at
Beaumont Hospital six to sev-
en nights a month.
Wearing a blue yarmulke
stitched with his first name
and a white consultation jack-
et, the 44-year-old Mr. Brown
performs the role of overnight
chaplain as a member of the
hospital's "God Squad."
He walks the emergency
room areas, consoling pa-
tients and relatives in mourn-
ing. Other times, he consoles
staff members who often feel
overloaded or burned out
treating so many patients
with gruesome injuries.
The rest of the squad, com-
posed of ministers and one
deacon, cover the remaining
midnight shifts.
Recently, after a two-car ac-
cident in Southfield claimed
the lives of three people, in-
cluding two children, Mr.
Brown sat with one of the sur-
vivors, a 7-year-old boy whose
older sister died in the van.
At 3:30 a.m. on another oc-
casion Mr. Brown walked into
a hospital room where over a
dozen family members stood
around the bed of a patient
who had just died. They were

T

.

Greek Orthodox and
a member of the fam-
ily spoke to him in
Greek.
But the husband of
the patient asked Mr.
Brown to say a few
words. "We all pray to
the same God," he
said. After Mr. Brown
recited Psalm 121,
the man embraced
Mr. Brown as if he
was his long-lost
cousin.
"From the begin-
ning, I've been treat-
ed as part of the
professional staff,"
said Mr. Brown, who
six years ago began
visiting Jewish pa-
tients in local hospi-
tals and nursing
homes, accompanying
Rabbi David Nelson
of Congregation Beth
Shalom.
At Beaumont, he
works with both Jews
and gentiles between.
10:30 p.m. and 7 a.m.,
when victims of some
of the worst accidents
are wheeled through
the door of the emer-
gency room. Such
nights make for a
long day that begins
with Mr. Brown's full-
time job as public re-
lations director of Focus:
HOPE, a Detroit civil rights
organization.
Most nights, however, are
so quiet he mainly serves as
a "good-will ambassador,"
helping the hospital staff
make calls to funeral homes,
or trying to locate a priest to
give the last rites. On such
nights, he may end up asleep
on a bed in the staff quarters.
While in Jewish tradition
members of the community
are called upon to perform
bikkur cholem the mitzvah of
visiting the sick, it is in fact
highly unusual for a non-or-
dained person to be a part of
a hospital chaplain staff. Mr.
Brown is paid for his services.
"They had to tweak the
rules a bit" to get him on staff,
Mr. Brown said.

"Mr. Brown's special qual-
ities as well as knowledge of
Judaism and the Talmud
make him an effective chap-
lain," Rabbi Nelson said. "He
has a sense of compassion.
I've watched him in these sit-
uations when the person he is
counseling needs an emotion-
al lift ... He can sense what
that person is really saying,"
he said.
Spiritual counseling in this
situation can be difficult, Rab-
bi Nelson said. "On one hand
you want to be helpful, but
some people don't want you to
intrude."
Mr. Brown said,"The fact is
people aren't questioning
what my credentials area
I'm a living human being
who is there who is exhibiting
some compassion for their sit-

uation. They don't ask me
whether I've got a string of
advanced degrees."
On Labor Day a year ago,
Mr. Brown was on duty when
the victims of a major acci-
dent in Franklin were
brought to the emergency
room. He spent five hours
with the father of one of the
victims who died.
"The main thing I did was
to explain to him that it was
okay to be a wreck," Mr.
Brown said. "I told him he
didn't have to be strong."
Actually, Rabbi Nelson
was at first reluctant when
Mr. Brown asked him six
years ago to accompany him
on his hospital rounds. "I al-
most regarded it as an intru-
sion," he said.
But he soon found Mr.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

49