By Lloyd Mackey

AS chaplain at Mountainview Village in Kelowna, Terje Ness says he is able to make use of both his Lutheran pastor background in Minnesota, and his experience between pastoral stints as a cowboy – in the Chilcotin area of B.C. and the state of Montana.

But before he’ll talk about it, he wants to get in a plug for an August 15 golf tournament, to enable Mountainview to get a wheelchair accessible bus. If they can raise $55,000 locally, the Good Samaritan Society (GSS) – which owns the home – will come through with the rest.

“Moira Mireault would be most happy to provide more information about the tournament,” Ness exudes, pointing out that people wanting more details can e-mail her at mmireault@gss.org. Or they can write him at tness@gss.org.

Now that the plug is out of the way, we talk about Ness and the place he ‘pastors.’

Norwegian born and educated to the pastoral ministry in that country, Ness handles the chaplaincy duties at one of a large number of seniors ‘villages’ – which are owned and operated by the GSS, which is headquartered in Edmonton.

GSS is a non-profit agency operating on behalf of both of Canada’s largest Lutheran bodies: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Lutheran Church-Canada.

Their residences and villages are located mainly in B.C. and Alberta, with the B.C. facilities spotted in Salmon Arm, Vernon, Kelowna, Penticton and Gibsons.

New projects are coming on line soon in New Westminster and Nanaimo. Mountainview is on KLO Road.

On the day BCCN interviewed Ness, he had conducted three worship services, attended by a total of about 80 people, in the 180-unit, two-building village.

He started his day shortly after 8 am, talking with people in the dining room at breakfast and en route to his office.

Some had been waiting for him for a few minutes at least.

He usually has lunch in one of the three dining rooms, as well, instead of in his quarters. The reason is that his wife is finishing up her work life in Minnesota; she will join him in a few months.

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His visits with residents can include conversation about serious spiritual issues.

Or, just as easily, it can involve sitting down casually to watch a hockey or football game. He keeps the visits as informal and as warm as possible. Hugs, for example, can be important.

Often, at around 11 am, there is a conference call with the chaplains at the various GSS facilities, to enable consulting on various care issues.

Currently, there are some workshops-by-phone on a range of ethical life issues important to both families and caregivers.

Sometimes, after supper, the residents gather around a firepit for a rousing gospel and folk singalong. Ness accompanies them on a guitar.

Sometimes other staffers, family members or volunteers from the nearby Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church come in with instruments or their singing voices as well.

 “We have wonderful new facilities here, but the thing that makes it work is the people,” he points out.

And that includes the staff – from the care aides, who are closest to the residents who need the most care, right through to those at head office who have made GSS, in his view, very people-responsive.

“Not all the staff are Lutheran, or even necessarily Christian. But they understand their service roles very well,” he points out, adding that there is a level of job enthusiasm and commitment that makes things work well.

Most of the Mountainview residents are in either independent living units or assisted living (where they can eat in a dining room).

A third phase includes some cottages where residents with Alzheimer’s receive special care.

Recalling his wrangling days, Ness explains that he interspersed that work with his pastoral duties in part because he was advised, as a young minister, that working at a different vocation would make a difference in his ability to relate to people, once he was back in “the ministry.”

He didn’t know, then, that he would be a chaplain in a seniors village.

But on recall, he believes that in the pastorate, and in the cowboying, God was preparing him for what he does now.

March 2008