Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Official Report
756KB pdf
Time for Reflection
Good afternoon, everyone. The first item of business is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Rev James Falconer, the hospital chaplain from the Royal Aberdeen children’s hospital.
Reverend James Falconer (Hospital Chaplain, Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital)
Presiding Officer, members of the Scottish Parliament, are there times when you cannot get a song out of your head?
A song that regularly haunts me has been sung by female artists as varied as Dusty Springfield, Barbara Streisand and Kiri Te Kanawa. In the remake of the film “The Thomas Crown Affair”, it was sung by Sting but, in the original 1968 version, it was sung by Noel Harrison. I am, of course, speaking about “The Windmills of Your Mind”, with its unforgettable lyrics:
Round
Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning
On an ever spinning reel.
But how do we cope and/or what can we do when it is not just song lyrics but life’s events and circumstances that circle and spiral in the windmills that are our minds?
As a healthcare chaplain with NHS Grampian, I am very aware that facing illness of any kind—a heart attack or stroke; trauma, depression or an eating disorder; a life-changing or life-limiting condition—causes worry and anxiety.
NHS Grampian is planning an exciting and innovative therapeutic roof garden. This outside garden space is being designed to be used by some of the most critically ill patients of Aberdeen royal infirmary and the Royal Aberdeen children’s hospital, their families and the staff caring for them at an estimated cost of £500,000, which is being raised by public appeal.
In 2011, more than 200 patients spent 60 or more consecutive days in Aberdeen royal infirmary. The therapeutic roof garden will be accessible to those who are able to walk or who are in wheelchairs. Crucially, it is also being designed to accommodate a fully ventilated but conscious intensive care unit patient in a bed. Dr Steve Stott, consultant anaesthetist, during a recent interview said:
“The sensation of feeling fresh air for the first time after serious illness has a positive impact on both physical and mental recovery.”
Although my work is with people of all faiths and none, as a Christian I recognise that, throughout the years of his teaching and sharing, Jesus sought out quiet spaces to think through where his life was going, from time spent in the desert, to the agonising hours in the garden of Gethsemane. Perhaps all of us at times, faced with life’s challenges and demands, would do well to follow his example and find a space—perhaps a garden—in which to relax, reflect and be rejuvenated.