WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Wale Abe has worked as a chaplain at Forsyth Medical Center since 2018.

His number one priority is to bring joy to his patients. 

"This job for me is a service of kindness or compassion...a service of hummanity. This job helps me to see all the people essentailly not because of what they have, what they posses, but their humanity," Abe says.

Visitors are limited at the hospital due to the pandemic, making it difficult or impossible for patients to see loved ones.

"It is daunting. It is humbling. One of the things I remind myself is that it could be me or it could be my family members, so I remind them that there is one family member of humanity. There and then, I'm their family," he says.

The pandemic has also changed the way he works. Now, most of his work is over the phone or video.

"In special circumstances, we gear up in our PPE to offer support one on one with patients experiencing...COVID patients experiencing difficult times," Abe says.

His support goes beyond patients and their families, but also hospital staff.

"We round with them. We check in with them one on one," he says.

Because at the end of the day, we are all in this together.

"White, Black or brown, the color of our blood is red," he adds.