Spiritual Care Volunteers help heal invisible wounds

By Jim Gilloon

Zonia Quero Zieda of North Carolina just wrapped up her 46th volunteer deployment in Western Kentucky. Born in Venezuela, the sound of her voice makes you feel like everything will get better, which is a perfect trait for a Red Cross Disaster Spiritual Care volunteer. Our role here is to “provide comfort and care to people displaced by last month's tornadoes that devasted parts of Kentucky,” explained Zonia. 

Zonia first began her Red Cross volunteer career seventeen years ago in Eastern Washington, educating a diverse population of immigrants living in high-risk communities on the importance home fire safety. She’s a volunteer because "I am a firm believer of the Red Cross Mission and what we do."

She would then go on to join the Red Cross Spiritual Care team more than four years ago and is trained to recognize the signs that someone may need assistance. "The first thing I learned as a Spiritual Care volunteer is to listen… God gave us one mouth and two ears."

Her best practices include "Listen to the clients – not just words – but what they are saying from their heart... It's really about getting to know the client."  

Recently, Zonia and another volunteer went on a Spiritual Care call to meet with a woman who spoke about her only surviving sibling of six. The woman insisted on having her sister come over to the house to be with her family. The woman's sister kept saying," I am okay here, I am okay." Unfortunately later that night, one of the multiple tornadoes that devastated parts of Western Kentucky came through her sister's town, her home was destroyed, and she lost her sister. 

Zonia and the woman would go on to communicate for the next several weeks where Zonia offered her compassionate support.  A couple of weeks later, the woman called Zonia to say, "THANK YOU!" and "I no longer wake up at 3 in the morning filled with guilt, sadness, and tears," and that "she is almost cured of her guilt because of Zonia's compassionate words and just listening to the woman." 

One thing Zonia and her team emphasize is that people affected by disasters should not let the word 'spiritual' keep them from seeking care. “We are not the religious group that people might think of. We are there for everybody… We're just here to inspire hope," she explained.   

The Disaster Spiritual Care team is a special force that supports people in their darkest days. They make up one of the many ways that the Red Cross supports the emotional needs of a community following a disaster.