Chaplain engages residents to accept challenges

By Marijke Fakasiieiki

Yvette Schock, a member of Salem Lutheran Church and chaplain at Riverview Retirement Community since August 2019, finds meaning in ministering to people during their later years and as their bodies change.

"Adjusting to changes in our bodies and minds is not just a physical challenge. It's a spiritual one," said Yvette, who sees retirement as a time of "holy rest."

Yvette also considers residents at Riverview heroes with their resilience and acceptance of the challenges that come with aging.

Riverview is an assisted living facility founded in 1959 by Lutheran congregations in Spokane to address what they saw as a gap in services.

"I love Riverview's history as part of the Lutheran tradition, looking beyond the walls of the church to express our faith by serving our neighbors," said Yvette.

Local Lutheran congregations continue to support the facility by serving on its board, by sharing its mission of care and by volunteering.

"For me, Christian ministry expresses love for the whole person—body, mind and spirit," she said, noting that this perspective grounds her approach to offering spiritual care for individual residents, their families and staff.

Yvette's presence as chaplain means she is available for people who just need company, as well as for people of faith who want to pray or hear a Psalm.

For her, spiritual care involves Bible study and prayer services, visiting people, praying with them, walking with them and developing other activities that touch and support their spirits.

After she arranged a guest presentation on meditation and mindfulness, residents requested an ongoing meditation group. Yvette now convenes the group weekly, meditating and learning alongside the residents.

A residents' Community-Builders group, started by the previous chaplain, gathers quarterly to strengthen community ties among all residents across Riverview's campus.

Yvette connects residents with ministry through arts, music and movement, learning about creation care and exploring holistic aspects of spirituality.

"I met some creative, talented quilters who could no longer sew, but I thought they would still find joy in doing something creative," said Yvette. "They inspired me."

She applied for a grant from the Lutheran Services for the Elderly Endowment, a fund of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Her proposal, "Creating Joy: Spiritual Care through Art, Movement, Creation Care," was approved.

With the grant, Yvette involved local artists who designed and led two community art projects.

The first was a tree art piece, "Rooted in Love," designed by local artist Oriana Sage. Working with her for several weeks, residents painted a large round canvas and many pieces of fabric. They began forming the trunk, leaves and branches around a chicken wire base.

"There is a wood heart in the center of the tree trunk, made by a resident in our woodshop. He carries wooden hearts around and gives them to just about everyone he meets, sometimes people who are struggling," said Yvette.

"The first day of the art project, he met the artist, saying, 'I want you to have a heart.' She thought it was beautiful but wasn't sure how to use it. While putting the tree together to finish the piece, she found the perfect spot for it in the center of the tree trunk, fitting for a project called 'Rooted in Love.'"

The second part of the "Creating Joy" project was "Movement with Music," created with the help of Riverview's resident engagement manager, Amy Brandle, who has a dance background.

For the first "Movement with Music" event, Amy led residents in chair-based movement to music of a live contradance band. At another event, members of Spokane's Vytal Movement Dance Company shared dances from their upcoming recital, then taught residents a short, chair-based routine to the same music.

Connecting with nature is another part of "Creating Joy."

"A neighbor who is a birder suggested ways to be in nature and appreciate it as a spiritual experience. The grant helped us buy bird feeders and put them up around our campus to give residents more opportunity to observe birds," said Yvette. "Last summer, I moved some of our morning midweek prayer services outdoors to connect residents with nature."

Yvette grew up in Eastern Washington, where she and her family were active in their local Lutheran congregation.

Because her family hosted exchange students, she developed an interest in learning Spanish. A student from Paraguay stayed with her family for six months.

"It opened up the world to me. I loved learning languages and learning about different cultures and places," said Yvette, who went on to study Spanish in college.

After graduating, she volunteered with Spanish-speaking communities through the Urban Servant Corps in Denver, Colo., and the Border Servant Corps in El Paso, Tex. Her experiences there led her to pursue ministry.

She attended seminary in Berkeley, Calif., and after earning a master of divinity degree, she was called to serve a small congregation on the East End of Long Island, N.Y.

"They called me because I spoke Spanish, and they wanted to serve the growing Spanish-speaking community around them," said Yvette.

After four years there, she moved to Washington, D.C., to work with Church World Service and the Interfaith Immigration Coalition. Then she returned to parish ministry in the D.C. area.

When she and her family moved to Spokane in 2019, she heard about the chaplain position at Riverview from the Northwest Intermountain Synod office.

"I hadn't served as a chaplain but had ministered to some families when a parent or a spouse had dementia, so I had that experience to draw from," she said.

"I also had known many elderly church members. I learned so much walking through life with parishioners in their later years, seeing how they grieved, but also accepted the changes that came as our bodies and minds change," Yvette commented.

That was a helpful touchstone for her understanding of life and aging.

"I've continued to learn from the people I've met working here at Riverview," said Yvette. "It's not that they don't have sorrow, struggle or anger, but so many people in their later years are grateful as they reflect on their lives. It's a sweet gift to share that with them."

For information, email yschock@riverviewretirement.org.