LaMotte has forged a reputation for being a blessing for those who need strength during their most difficult hours.

“When you are in the hospital, you need doctors and nurses to help heal your physical body, but many of us also need spiritual healing, so this is a holistic approach to your healing,” said LaMotte.

LaMotte is associate pastor at Avenue United Methodist Church in Milford, and he is completing his master of divinity degree at Palmer Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.

As part of his degree program, he is serving a 160-hour internship at Milford Memorial Hospital, supporting Bayhealth Medical Center Director of Chaplaincy Services the Rev. Connie Perry, MDiv.

“We have had pastoral interns at Kent General Hospital previously but never at Milford Memorial,” she said. “Pastor Steve will be very helpful in supporting the spiritual needs of all our patients at Milford.”

LaMotte said he is called upon by patients from virtually every department in the hospital - from a very sick patient in the Intensive Care Unit to an orthopaedics patient who needs spiritual strength to recover from knee-replacement surgery.

“The most common prayer is to pray for strength. Some patients have just had surgery - are undergoing rehab - and they just need the strength to go home and be with their families,” said LaMotte.

He said prayer not only buoys the emotional spirits of patients but also heals them physically. “There are many studies which show a link between prayer and healing.

“The studies show that people who profess faith and lead an active prayer life often recover from surgeries and illnesses more quickly,” said LaMotte. “Our faith can bring healing.”

That faith can be any faith, he said, noting the Bayhealth Chaplaincy Services Department has assembled prayer resources from many religious traditions to meet the needs of most patients. The Milford Memorial Hospital chapel has a King James Bible, a Quran and a multicultural prayer book, for example. The chapel is open to all to seek comfort, peace, healing and the presence of God.

“If God is creator of the world, then God hears the prayers of all his children,” said LaMotte.