Fostering Human Connection: What it Feels Like to Receive Empathic Care

Chapter Four stresses the importance of human connection and what it feels

like to receive empathic care. The Chapter begins with a personal story of how an

ordinary woman made a positive difference in the lives of others. Caring traits that

foster connection are explored, including practices that enhance the relationship

between physician and patient. Offering empathy requires that a health professional

resist the temptation to give advice, not assume that they understand, or try to rescue.

They must also become aware of how another person’s suffering affects them and their

responses. We learn that vulnerability is strength. Three narratives are presented and

analyzed. In the first case, we hear what a counsellor did to show empathy in the midst

of unbearable grief. In the second story, a doctor makes the time to listen to a patient

when she so desperately needs to be heard. In the third story, we get a glimpse of how

human connection was made possible when a dying hospitalized patient was alone and

isolated because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Case in Point, a hopeless young

student shares how an empathetic nurse helped her choose life. In the section on

something to ponder, the significance of being genuine and using silence is

emphasized. A learning exercise is suggested at the end of the Chapter to discern

between words and actions that demonstrate empathy and ones that do not.

Keywords: Active listening, Caring, COVID-19, Empathy, Human connection, Human touch, Listening, Mindfulness, Narratives, Pandemic, Patience, Personal protective equipment (PPE), Professional boundaries, Reliability, Respect, Silence, Supportiveness, Story, Vulnerability, Warmth, Enuineness.

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