Carol Dimmett is an ordained, board-certified staff chaplain at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Her speciality area is the Palliative Care floor.
1. What motivated you to enter Chaplaincy as a career?
As a child I had a very powerful spiritual experience, a vision that had a profound impact on me. In the vision, I felt unconditional love, peace and acceptance. From that point on, I wanted to be a minister. I was eleven years old. It wasn’t until my seminary training (started at age 40) that I came in contact with CPE. I did two years of CPE and knew that chaplaincy was what I wanted to pursue.
2. What is the most challenging part of your work?
For me, it was a struggle in the beginning to deal with the suffering and loss people experience on the cancer journey. I had to process that and meld it into my existing theology and concept of the Divine. Recently the biggest challenge for me is to get my ego out of the way and let the Divine Spirit work through me to minister to others.
3. What do you find to be the most helpful when visiting with a cancer patient?
The most helpful thing, I feel, is to listen. We all need to tell our stories and be heard. One of the greatest gifts we can give another is our attention. Chaplains listen to patients, families, staff, and to the Divine within. Reading body language and observing the surroundings in the patient's room is a form of listening also. The listening, although hard work if done well, helps bring us together in our commonality.
4. What spiritual or religious resource do you find most personally helpful?
Spending time in meditation and quiet is essential for me. It is important for me to connect to the Divine Spirit within all of us on a daily basis. From that place of peace, I am more able to allow God's Spirit to flow through me. For patients and families, I like to share prayer, books, tapes, music, or objects to be held. Helping patients reframe, listening as they tell their story, helping them remember their blessings and what has given their lives meaning - all are means of joining others on their journey.
5. What personal characteristics do you believe make an effective chaplain?
Being inclusive, nonjudgmental, inquisitive, and supportive would be some of the characteristics that would help to be effective as a chaplain. Joining with, and walking beside, are helpful. While an emergency personnel's motto is: Don't just stand there, do something; a chaplain’s motto is "Don't just do something, stand there" (or more importantly sit there).
6. Are there spiritual/religious topics you personally wrestle with?
Suffering, loss, and injustice, are all things I have struggled with. What helps me with this however, is having an experience of God. Reading, talking, or knowing God only with my mind or by hearing about the experience of others, will never replace my own personal experience of God. By spending time in prayer and silence each day, I can experience God's peace and presence. We weren't designed for anything less.
7. What would you like cancer patients and their families to know about M.D. Anderson?
The community of M.D. Anderson is unlike any other. There is a feeling of acceptance and support for patients and their families that make this a special place. People bond quickly here and support each other. Staff are friendly and helpful. When a person enters M.D. Anderson, there is a sense of commonality. People come from all over the world, with different customs, languages, religions, and belief systems, but what we have in common is so much more than what makes us different. We are a community dedicated in our struggle against cancer. We have all been touched by it in some way, but we transcend our differences and unite in the common goal of supporting, learning, and caring about each other. When you come through those doors, you have entered and become part of, a community.
