April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
VA HOSPITAL
Deacon's call of duty: easing veterans' pain
Deacon Ladouceur encounters living reminders every day through his ministry to veterans at the Albany Stratton VA Medical Center and The Community Hospice. He said civilians should take note of veterans' struggles - whether those veterans are young men returning home to a sour job market and a slow benefits system or senior citizens still grappling with the effects of war.
"When I meet with a vet [at the VA], I don't know what that need is going to be," the deacon said. His responsibilities range from counseling and pastoral care to patient advocacy; sometimes he even finds veterans a place to live when they're discharged from the hospital.
Sacred ministry
"I consider the work sacred. I see it as a very big responsibility that, for whatever reasons, this [person] is in front of me and needs my help," he added.
He also considers it a means of giving back: Deacon Ladouceur is a retired U.S. Navy commander who served three tours in the Middle East, among other assignments.
He worked through his own post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms while earning a doctorate in psychology from the Graduate Theological Foundation in Mishawaka, Ind. He also has master's degrees in theology and management with emphases on human resources and counseling.
"I'm just trying to help guys who are a lot worse off than I was," the deacon said.
Prior to starting work with veterans 15 years ago, Deacon Ladouceur made a competitive salary in the corporate world; "but, at the end of the day, it was like, 'Well, who did I help today?'"
In hospice care, he ministers to veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars, many of whom are on their deathbeds before they're diagnosed with PTSD. Some only begin to understand a lifetime of problems with substance abuse and relationships when the death of old war comrades causes them to analyze their time in combat.
De-stressing vets
"PTSD wasn't even a diagnosis until the 1980s," said Deacon Ladouceur. "A lot of them don't even realize why that was happening to them."
About 100 of the hospice's patients are veterans. As part of a team of home care professionals, the deacon guides the vets through "life reviews" on the cognitive and emotional aspects of military service. He knows the trauma can be treated but not cured at this point.
"I'm a spiritual companion on the journey," he said. "I will walk with that person wherever that person feels a spiritual need."
The patients he encounters at the VA are on the other end of the spectrum: recent veterans of combat in the Middle East. Deacon Ladouceur has run spirituality-centered groups for PTSD sufferers and has witnessed the difficulties any veteran can have with "re-setting" to civilian life.
Many, for instance, undergo personality changes - a talkative individual can become more withdrawn or vice versa - as well as self-medication, sleeplessness and startled responses to loud noises. Survival skills learned in combat, such as offensive driving or hyper-vigilance in guarding one's surroundings, can persist into everyday life.
Works both ways
Some VA patients take their frustrations out on Deacon Ladouceur, but he finds most of his work "not difficult at all. Sometimes I'm not sure what hat I'm wearing," he admitted with a laugh. He works full-time at The Community Hospice and nights and weekends at the VA, but sometimes fills in at the VA during the day, as well.
Deacon Ladouceur said all veterans face doubts about forgiveness from God, from others and from themselves, as well as spiritual conundrums about God allowing them to live even as friends died.
In both settings, "whatever faith they are, that's the faith I try to be," he said. In rare cases, veterans "who have rejected God but who love God" are hostile to spiritual discussions. But most yearn for help "reconnecting with God and others.
"I convince them that God has forgiven them, but they won't forgive themselves," Deacon Ladouceur said. He uses the biblical Prodigal Son parable, encourages prayer and asks veterans to write symbolic letters to people they may have harmed.
"You see miracles happen," he said, adding that watching people turn around strengthens his own faith: "I am better at the end of each day than I am at the beginning."
Deacon Ladouceur said working with veterans is important because "we owe them. It has always been the case, but it has not always been the response. Their relationship with God is broken and it is important that we try to restore that relationship. Anyone can be a companion to a vet."
He recommends Catholics get involved with programs like the VA's No Veteran Dies Alone hospice volunteer program.
The deacon also ministers at Mater Christi parish in Albany. He was ordained in 1994 after serving as a Catholic lay leader in the military.[[In-content Ad]]
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