Faces of Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic: Gina Murphy

This series spotlights non-provider colleagues who are helping create a safe, healing and compassionate environment both in and out of the hospital.

For many patients and families who come through the doors of the emergency department, it’s one of the hardest days of their lives. As they face fear, uncertainty or, sadly, the loss of a loved one, Gina Murphy is often the first face they see … and she makes sure it’s a face of warmth and comfort.

A patient access representative of more than seven years at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, Murphy calls on her spiritual background to go far beyond her daily duties of registering patients. It’s her mission to make a period of illness or death a bit less dark, offering a smile, words of encouragement and, when welcomed, a heartfelt prayer to those who need it.

“It’s something I took on myself. Sometimes, with the death of people, there can be screaming and hollering. The nurses call on me and say, ‘Can you help the family out?’ So I go in there and say, ‘My condolences are with you. I’m praying for you. Would you all like to have a prayer?’ Some say yes, some say no. I’ll get them water, some napkins,” says Murphy. “I try to make them feel as comfortable as possible. That’s where I step in and I do it on my own free will. We have all different patients that come in, so you’ve really got to meet them where they’re at.”

Murphy’s day begins at 5 a.m., when she wakes up to pray and prepare herself—body, mind and spirit—for the shift ahead. She’s then at Mercy for 7 a.m., where she registers patients who come through the emergency department. As their first point of contact at the hospital, she sets the tone for their experience with a smile and positive demeanor. Her lunchtime is always spent in the chapel, where she prays again and gets her spirit ready for the afternoon.

“I look at them and I look at myself and say, ‘They have a loved one that’s really sick.’ I prepare myself from the time of registration. I make sure I do my job first, get them all registered. Once I do that part, then I can do my spirit side of it, just a word of encouragement or, if they want it, prayer. I really enjoy what I do because some people really need the help and prayer helps a lot.” – Gina Murphy

All the while, she’s constantly ready and willing to answer a nurse’s call if a family needs some spiritual comforting during their time of grief. For Murphy, there’s never a second of hesitancy on her part when such a call is made to her.

“I look at them and I look at myself and say, ‘They have a loved one that’s really sick.’ I prepare myself from the time of registration. I make sure I do my job first, get them all registered. Once I do that part, then I can do my spirit side of it, just a word of encouragement or, if they want it, prayer,” says Murphy. “I really enjoy what I do because some people really need the help and prayer helps a lot.”

This spiritual work isn’t limited to the walls of Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital. In her off time, Murphy is a chaplain at the 48th Street Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, where she’s also training to be a minister. A true people lover, she regularly goes out into the community to give out necessities like food and clothing, pray with folks and even take personal calls from those who could use some guidance. For example, she recently healed a struggling marriage by praying with the couple and helping them to better communicate with each other. She also enjoys spending time with her 13 grandchildren, whom she is introducing to her work.

Prayer wasn’t always part of Murphy’s life. But she’s extremely grateful that she found it.

“I had a difficult lifestyle. When you go through some hard times and see a lot of trauma, you need an outlet,” says Murphy, who cared for her mother for 15 years after she had a stroke. “So I picked up the Bible. I read the Word, and I prayed and asked God to give me strength, give me wisdom, the knowledge, the understanding that I’ll be able to know how to stand in a place that somebody else was and be stronger.”

Now, she’s putting everything that she learned to good use, benefiting those at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital and beyond. For any patient, family member, colleague or community member that encounters her, there are a few things that Murphy hopes they remember most about her.

“My smile and my words of encouragement,” says Murphy. “Anyone that comes along, I let them know, ‘Listen, you can get through this. You might have been here before, you might not have. But look at all the things that you’ve done in the past and you’re still here today surviving. So this, too, shall pass. But learn from it, grow from it, and try to use your wisdom and knowledge. It’ll be able to help you along the way. Try to stay strong in what you’re going through. Try to learn from your obstacles along the way and you’ll get stronger as you go along’.”