Interview with Sister Ruth-Maria Bortis,
Brig, Switzerland – Part 2
Sister Ruth-Maria Bortis worked for almost 20 years as a nursing specialist in Spitex (external hospital assistance and care). Until her retirement, she was affiliated with the Upper Valais Social-Medical Center. Since then, she has been a freelance nurse for 2 years.
You are a Schoenstatt Sister of Mary? Does that have an influence on your work as a nursing specialist?
Yes, I think so. I wore the common uniform dress of our sisters‘ community and thus was often asked to what religious community I belonged. So, among other things, I could tell them about our house and our Schoenstatt Shrine. The sisters‘ dress led to many a religious conversation or even a clarifying discussion. That happened on my last day of work. I came to a patient who had recently lost his wife and spoke to him about it. He was able to talk and the conversation meant more to him than the care that morning. It helped him to better understand his hard blow of fate and to begin a new life.
As a Sister of Mary, the Pilgrim MTA Shrine, the Pilgrim Mother, was my best companion on all my work assignments. Countless timesI brought the Blessed Mother in the Pilgrim Shrine to patients and left the shrine with them in difficult situations. Again and again, I marveled at the small and large miracles the Blessed Mother worked in the hearts of the sick and their relatives. For example, with a man who urgently needed to go to hospital but refused. I went to him in my free time. At first, he didn’t want to let me into his residence. When I told him I would like to bring him the Blessed Mother, he gave me a picture he himself had painted. He handed it down to me from his window. Then I was able to put the Pilgrim MTA Shrine in his mailbox. When I went back to him a few days later for care, he told me what the Blessed Mother had done for him, and he also told me about his life with a mental illness. He asked me if I was afraid to walk through the streets alone in the evening. “No,” I told him, ”I have the Blessed Mother with me, my best protection!” And so it was. A few days later, he agreed to go to the hospital, where he died shortly afterwards.
Another time I didn’t have a Pilgrim MTA Shrine to take with me. I had an assignment in the morning with a young, dying woman. I suggested I visit her again and at least bring her the small Pilgrim MTA Shrine that one of the sisters had given me as a gift–in the hope that the sick woman would be able to die soo. When I arrived at this young woman’s house later than expected due to various circumstances, her husband received me. I showed him the small Pilgrim MTA Shrine and I said to him that I had brought it for his wife. He took it and told me that his wife had just died. Then he placed the Pilgrim MTA Shrine with his wife. When I later came to pick up the small Pilgrim MTA Shrine, he asked me to leave it for him and his daughter as a reminder of this moment when his wife and her mother went home. So I gave it to him. Providence had led me this way. May it continue to have a beneficial effect!
Even though I do not find new encounters difficult, I always prayed in front of the patient’s door, took holy water, blessed the patient, and our encounter. Once I was asked to visit a woman who was always unhappy with the dressing changes. She had reported this to the office. They told me to look into why this was so difficult for the woman. Once again, the Blessed Mother accompanied me in the sign of the Pilgrim MTA Shrine. I took much time to listen. I discovered the woman was suffering from the early death of her grandson, and suddenly she was able to realize and express this. This was the cause and her attitude changed thanks to the Blessed Mother, who had touched the wound in her heart, which was now beginning to heal. There are many more examples I could give. I think my deepest resource, my best tool at work, the one that most profoundly shaped and radiated my work was the Blessed Mother from the shrine – through my being a Schoenstatt Sister of Mary.
Of course, like most people, you haven’t been unemployed since you retired!
What has happened since then? What job do you have now?
After years of being an employee in a company, I switched to self-employment. To do this, I had to obtain a vocational training license from the canton and collect numerous of documents.
After a period of rest, I started my new job as a freelance nurse and began to build up my own small business, starting with a patient that I asked the Blessed Mother for. After the previous pace of clocked work, I now have the opportunity to choose my patients and build up my own cliental. I can determine the daily workload myself and I am also learning much about administration. There has been a shift, as I take care of everything myself, from the initial contact, to organizing my work, to writing invoices and recording statistics.
What was and is particularly important to you in your job as a nurse?
Openness for each person. This results in wonderful encounters that give me an idea of what the Blessed Mother‘s encounter with her relative Elizabeth brought about: amazement, joy and gratitude. When people are sick they experience their dependency in many ways. It, therefore, seems important to me to listen to what moves them and to serve them with understanding and love so they can better accept their illness and feel loved.