{"id":192936,"date":"2025-05-18T20:37:44","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T01:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=192936"},"modified":"2025-05-18T20:37:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T01:37:45","slug":"chp-offers-blessing-of-the-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2025\/05\/18\/chp-offers-blessing-of-the-hands\/","title":{"rendered":"CHP offers “blessing of the hands”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Greg Yinger\/special to the VW independent<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In honor of National Nurses Week, which was May 6-12, CHP Home Care & Hospice offered a \u201cblessing of the hands\u201d \u2014 a centuries-old tradition meant to honor the vital role nurses play in healing and compassion.
 
\u201cBlessing of the Hands\u201d ceremonies are now fairly commonplace during Nurse\u2019s Week. Human touch is such a crucial part of health care. Blessing of the hands with oils or water is a way to acknowledge that importance, while also honoring the spiritual aspects found in physical care.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Pastor Steven Haddix, CHP Hospice Chaplain, performed 240 blessing of the hands ceremonies with area healthcare workers. Photos submitted<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The idea came from Colleen Quickery, the administrator of Hearth & Home in Van Wert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CHP chaplain Steve Haddix performed about 240 blessings for staff at various health care offices and facilities in Van Wert and surrounding counties as well as at CHP offices in Delphos, Lima, Paulding, and Van Wert. Haddix is also serves as senior pastor of Delphos Wesleyan Church.
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This is the first year CHP has offered the ceremony, and it has had a powerful impact on many who received it.
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\u201cI think for me, the most special part is when you do that 30-second blessing, and I look up and the people have tears in their eyes, it just it means so much,\u201d Haddix said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been in situations where people said, this is exactly what they needed for that day. So, it\u2019s been an amazing journey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A blessing of hands ceremony is a brief, interfaith ritual that includes prayer, with the application of oil or water to the hands. It is meant to recognize the work of healthcare providers and remind them that they are cared for and remembered in their daily routines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is very special for us as nurses, because, not only do we physically work with our hands, sometimes our hands are just that nice, reassuring touch on another\u2019s hands or one shoulder, or that hug,\u201d said Ashley Crossgrove, RN, CHP supervisor. \u201cIt\u2019s just not the physical work, it\u2019s the emotional part that we also get attached to the patients with,\u201d
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CHP plans to continue and expand the blessing of the hands in future years.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Greg Yinger\/special to the VW independent In honor of National Nurses Week, which was May 6-12, CHP Home Care & Hospice offered a \u201cblessing of the hands\u201d \u2014 a centuries-old tradition meant to honor the vital role nurses play in healing and compassion. \u201cBlessing of the Hands\u201d ceremonies are now fairly commonplace during Nurse\u2019s Week. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 13:38:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192936"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192939,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192936\/revisions\/192939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}