Lourdes Pilgrimage 2015 Kaitlin Hildreth My pilgrimage to Lourdes, in the heart of the Pyrenees region in southwestern France, was an empowering, yet bittersweet finale to my undergraduate nursing experience at Boston College. I consider myself truly blessed to have had the opportunity to spend a week’s time in one of the most revered places in the Catholic Church alongside malades, caregivers and volunteers from all over the United States. Looking back on my experience, I smile knowing we all went to Lourdes searching for the same thing—strength. Whether it was spiritual strength, psychological strength or physiological strength, every pilgrim in Lourdes went in search of and in hopes that they would feel more complete, more powerful, more energetic and more aware of God’s daily work. From the three hundred caring and devoted volunteers, to the organization and schedule of events, to my individual spiritual healing, all aspects soared far beyond my expectations and the pilgrimage is something that remains dear to my heart to this day. In preparation for the pilgrimage, I confided in a fellow nursing student who went the year prior. She came over, showed me a bunch of pictures and told a few of her favorite stories. Watching her eyes as they lit up describing something as simple as pulling a malade in a voiture, or “cart” to morning mass made me feel excited, nervous and blessed all at the same time. Going into the trip, I had a vague picture in my mind of some type of spiritual retreat that would allow the opportunity to put my skills learned as an undergraduate nursing student into practice. What I didn’t know is the pilgrimage would teach me more about my nursing skills than I had ever known. Karlee, Colleen and I were welcomed at JFK airport by 400 other pilgrims traveling with the Order of Malta. Most knights, dames and auxiliary members knew each other from years past. For some, it was their tenth or twelfth year volunteering. The welcome felt almost like a dream, as if I was wandering through a large reunion for a school I never went to. “This is incredible,” I thought to myself, “We haven’t even started the pilgrimage and I already don’t want to leave.” During the initial welcome, the team leaders, auxiliary members and nurses helped organize a luncheon in the airport distributing bagged lunches to all malades and caregivers. As I walked around, I was beyond proud to introduce myself as a Boston College nursing student, a senior for that matter, and started to put names to faces and made a mental note of the medical diagnoses the malades were traveling with. Not long afterwards, all 400 of us boarded the charter flight for our direct access to Lourdes, France. Once we landed in Lourdes, we were in constant motion and didn’t stop until we made it to our beds back in the United States. It’s funny, they say one of the true Lourdes miracles is that no matter how sleep deprived you are for the week, surprisingly you are never tired. I can confidently say I was walking on some sort of air that week, but once I got back to the US, I was ready to hibernate! From the airport, we checked into our hotels, met with our respective teams, assembled the malades and voitures, and made our way to the Rosary Basilica for the Opening Tri-­‐Association Mass. The Order of Malta has three different associations throughout the United States: The Federal Association based out of Washington, D.C., The Western Association based out of California, and The American Association based out of New York (this was our branch). I am not positive how many pilgrims the other branches traveled with, but from the United States alone, there had to have been around 1,000 pilgrims. Even though it was a very chaotic first 24 hours, my body was in total awe of all that went on around me. Every morning we had breakfast with the medical team comprised of doctors and nurses from around the US. The doctor on my team was an Afghanistan native and gastroenterologist now working in Portland, Oregon. He was incredible—sharp, astute, and hilarious—all the malades loved him! During morning meeting, we sat at a very long rectangular table, teams assorted throughout (I felt like I was at Hogwarts) and each head doctor and nurse would give report on the team’s overall health, noting any patients the Order should keep an eye on for the day. After breakfast, we traveled as a unit to mass in the Domain. We would return to the hotels for lunch and travel back to the Domain in the afternoon/evening for other events such as the Stations of the Cross, the Anointing of the Sick, the Candlelight Procession, the International Mass at the Underground Basilica, the Baths, and many more. Lourdes provided a marvelous opportunity to put assessment, implementation and evaluation skills to practice. One morning meeting I requested a change. The Order had what they called “silent malades” which referred to normally healthy pilgrims who would become a malade from the taxing nature of the trip. My malade, an 87-­‐year-­‐old gentleman from Dallas, Texas was on the pilgrimage with his wife and caregiver. After the first day, I noticed the wife was limping at night and questioned if she was all right. She admitted she had two knee replacements and hip surgery in the recent past and was feeling sore from all the walking we were doing. I therefore suggested we pull the wife alongside the husband in an additional voiture for the next day to give the wife’s body a time to rest. The medical team highly agreed and thought it was a great implementation for prevention and health promotion. The wife ended up using the voiture for one day and was back on her feet for the rest of the week. What is even more amazing about the pilgrimage to Lourdes is that it is an individual journey as much as a journey to help others. My Lourdes miracle came on the last day of the trip. We were finishing up at the Stations of the Cross heading back to the hotels for lunch when my head nurse ran past. I stopped her and asked if she needed help. She chuckled and said she was going to run to the top of the mountain where the wooden cross stood. I was shocked and impressed. From the ground, you could see the cross standing alone atop this mountain and it looked like a toothpick it was so far away. We met at the hotel and it ended up being me, my head nurse, a head nurse of another team, and an auxiliary member. Since we only had two hours of free time we were really pushing it and it wasn’t even a definite we would make it to the top. We ran halfway up the mountain and it started to get really rocky. The two head nurses turned back at this point and left Alex and I to pursue the rest. The path started to narrow and we got down to our hands and feet climbing over rocks just so we could see and touch this cross. I’m looking at my watch, looking back down seeing how far we are from the hotel and really contemplating turning around, knowing we wont make it back in time for dinner. Something deep inside kicks me forward, Alex and I pick up the pace and we make it to the top. We sat there for just five minutes looking over the entire town of Lourdes, but those five minutes felt like hours. As I sat, a few tears fell down my face, and I was complete. One of my goals during the pilgrimage was to find a spark, a vision and a reason to why I was made to pursue a career in nursing. After spending a week in a foreign country in a land so pure and so close to God, I have come to realize I am made for the nursing profession to do the handiwork of the Good Lord and the Virgin Mother. I was raised with a heart so full of compassion and truly want the best health for all who are willing to seek it. I know the road to success will not be easy, just as the hike up that mountain was not easy, but I know that uncertainty is what makes us push for more. I am beyond thankful and am committed to utilizing the life lessons I learned in Lourdes to guide me on my continued journey through life.