FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Hospital Chaplain Helps Those Hurting

Chaplain Bill Deming walked into Dorothy Perusich’s room at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center and embraced her husband, Joseph, who was at her bedside.

“It’s not easy,” Deming told Joseph Perusich. His wife was going to have heart surgery on this day. “But I want you to know that ‘Chaplain Bill’ is here.”

Deming walked over to Dorothy Perusich’s bed, leaned over her and placed his hand on her shoulder. He then began to pray.

“God’s going to see you through,” he told her.

Ministering to people such as Joseph and Dorothy Perusich is what Deming knows best. For the past 6 1/2 years, he has befriended, prayed with and given hope to patients, their families, even doctors and other employees at the 300-bed Fountain Valley hospital.

“I’ve prayed with people through their open heart surgery--or when they’re near death,” said Deming, who wears a pin that reads “Caring is my blessing” on his coat.

Deming said he uses friendship, prayer, Scripture and a sense of humor to help those who are suffering.

“I don’t carry a Bible,” he said. “I carry the word of the Lord in my heart instead of carrying a big Bible in my hand. I think sometimes that’s a little intimidating.”

The Perusiches, who live in Westminster, said Deming’s help is welcomed.

“It’s a consolation, it’s uplifting,” Joseph Perusich said. “It doesn’t make a difference what religion you are, it’s a comfort.”

Deming, father of three and married 31 years to Joann, is an interfaith minister. He doesn’t draw the line when it comes to helping people of different religious faiths.

“I’m representing God,” he said.

Deming, 57, who walks to the hospital from his nearby Fountain Valley home, has been involved in ministry for 35 years. He is a former pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Huntington Beach, where he served for 14 years. He’s still involved in the church as a “pastor emeritus” and teaches Bible study. He’s also affiliated with Anaheim-based Hospital Chaplains’ Ministry of America Inc. Hospitals don’t pay chaplains’ salaries. Chaplains raise their own financial support, although hospitals often become a sponsor.

Deming, who is personable, witty and upbeat, became a hospital chaplain because he wanted to help people who are hurting.

“I have to give God the glory,” he said. “Maybe God has given me the gift to deal with death.”

Deming’s first exposure to ministering to those who are injured or to families whose loved ones have died was when he landed his first pastoral job in 1967. As pastor of the First Baptist Church in Willcox, Ariz., highway patrol officers would call on him when there was a major accident on the interstate.

“That was my real beginning with dealing with the horror stories of life,” he said.

Even after all the years he’s spent dealing with the critically ill, he can still be overwhelmed emotionally, he said.

Recently, he tried to console a man who lost his wife. “I went to pray with him, but I just cried with him,” he said. “Sometimes, my emotions burst. But I’m human. I hurt, too.”

Deming said at Christmastime, especially, his job is even harder. “How are you supposed to wish a person a merry Christmas,” he said. “There’s sickness and death, but you try to keep things in perspective because this is a happy time of the year.

“At Christmastime, there are also a lot of blessings. Because amid all the hurt in our lives, there is a little brightness.”

Deming is on call 24 hours a day, even on Christmas Day. He carries a beeper, and if called in the middle of the night or weekends to the emergency room, he’s there.

And there are times when patients don’t want his help. And that’s OK, too.

The first thing he does before he greets a new patient is pray. “I ask God to help me--ask the Lord to give me open doors, the opportunity to minister, to let people know that God still exists.”

Deming said he’ll provide a listening ear to hospital employees who want counseling. And, he often lends support to doctors, who at times get emotional about their patients dying.

“They break down, too,” he said. “Many times they ask: ‘Why did this person have to die?’ And I don’t have the answers. God does.”

Hospital doctors said that Deming’s services are invaluable.

“He’s positive for the hospital--for all faiths and religions. He’s here, and that’s what counts,” said Dr. Doug Anderson, an emergency room physician. “I’m sure patients appreciate him. I’m sure they’re glad he is here.”