The Chaplain of Oakland

While providing end-of-life care to Oakland's most vulnerable patients, a hospital chaplain challenges her physician protegé to look at "medicine" in a whole new way.

Betty Clark is a 79-year-old chaplain and one of few African American women on staff at the public hospital in Oakland, California. Jessica Zitter is a physician who has worked with Betty for over a decade. In the early years of their relationship, Jessica doesn’t pay much attention to the chaplain’s work, having been trained to prioritize medical interventions over spiritual connection, fast decision-making over relationship-building. But over time, Jessica starts to realize that Betty’s approach—non-judgmental, curious, and compassionate— is essential for her work as a doctor. “Everybody has a story,” is Betty’s mantra. Betty takes on the role of mentor to Jessica, inspiring in her a deep curiosity for the stories of their patients as well as soul-searching about the biases and barriers that doctors like herself often bring to the bedside. The chaplain and the doctor forge a bond that celebrates both what’s different between them, and ultimately, what is fundamentally the same. As Betty starts to face her own health challenges, Jessica witnesses more intimately the experience of patients of color in America’s hospitals – this time, with someone she’s grown to love. With increasing urgency, the two allies are further galvanized in their mission to bring humanity to our country’s most vulnerable patients.