When people are in the final stages of their lives, someone who can offer them compassion, counsel, spiritual guidance, or simply a listening ear can be of great comfort.

The staff of Hospice of Southeastern Connecticut, which, since 1985, has provided end-of-life care to patients with terminal illnesses-both at home and in skilled nursing facilities-understands the importance of addressing this need.

The nonprofit, community-based organization recently hired Rev. Willis J. McCaw for the newly created position of spiritual coordinator to provide resources and respond to the spiritual needs of patients and families of all perspectives and faiths.

Rev. McCaw received a Master of Divinity from Yale University and completed an ACPE (Association for Clinical Pastoral Education) chaplain residency at Hartford Hospital. He also serves as chaplain of the Gospel Church of Trinity College in Hartford, designing and facilitating creative weekly worship services as well as advising and counseling students of various faiths and ethnic backgrounds.

The following is a Times interview with Rev. McCaw about his new position at Hospice SECT.

Q. How do you describe your role as a spiritual coordinator?

A. Having an ability to relate to people of various backgrounds and perspectives and faith traditions is

essential for spiritual care. It's important to display unbiased viewpoints that embrace diversity of all people. That means respecting a person's religious beliefs and practices-for me, the key word being respect. It's my goal not to convert, but to bring people comfort and care.

Interfaith dialogue is an essential component of spiritual care for individuals, families, and staff of all faiths and of no particular faith tradition. Our humanity is our common denominator.

Q. Are there different challenges and expectations when you counsel people from different faiths and ethnic backgrounds?

A. Flexibility is very key. It's also about spiritual collaboration-sometimes calling in a priest or rabbi, or imam is one of the things I will do as spiritual coordinator. I won't always be the one to provide direct care.

For example, if someone from the Roman Catholic tradition, which isn't my faith tradition, requested the Sacrament of the Sick-I would call on their own priest or a priest from the community.

Q. As you know, there's been a political uproar over a provision in the president's health-care proposal that would reimburse doctors who counsel Medicare beneficiaries on end-of-life issues, and yet a new study in Journal of the American Medical Association finds that offering end-of-life counseling to dying cancer patients improves their mood and quality of life.

Can you comment on why this idea of end-of-life counseling has become so controversial?

A. One of problems is a lack of communication and truly identifying what people's goals are when they're dying. If we were to talk more, those goals would become clearer in end-of-life care. It's difficult to embrace death, and to come to grips with that is a difficult process. For Hospice SECT it happens with open communications and really getting out in the community and letting the community know what we're about so they're not drawing conclusions based on their fears.

Q. Can you explain what end-of-life counseling entails for those who may not know?

A. Dying is a profound right of passage, which is sometimes mysterious and often filled with more questions than answers. Spiritually, and also emotionally, patients are on the journey in search for meaning, comfort, strength, and hope. Hospice SECT brings to the end-of-life journey a

holistic philosophy of care-doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, etc.-in addressing the issues of end-of-life care. One of most difficult things for any one to do is deal with is death. It's a complex issue for those facing it, as well as the family members they will leave behind.

Everyone is different and everyone will have their own challenges as well as their own hopes. It's really, for me, being present with people and allowing them to say whatever they need to say-a non-anxious presence. As human beings we often try to conjure up words that are deep and profound, but are the words meaningful? Often people make exaggerated and inaccurate comments for the sake of sounding religious or spiritual. I realize sometimes it's simply best to be fully present with the one in need and sometimes there are no words that will help during that time. A spiritual counselor [providing end-of-life counseling] doesn't problem-solve but provides spiritual care.