October 2006 - Sister Marie Brent, SHF

Sister Marie Brent, SHF, a trained EMT, paramedic, and hospital chaplain, used to board foreign ships from Japan, Korea, and Poland in the roiling and dangerous Bering Sea in the Aleutians, climbing a swaying chain ladder (called a "Jacob's ladder") in order to tend to the immediate medical needs of those on board. Once, she needed blood desperately for a Korean who was clearly dying, so Sister said, "Take a pint from me" when she realized they matched.

The man survived. "Everyone said afterward it was the 'Nun blood' that got him through," Sister chuckles. These days, the 71-year-old Sister brings the Eucharist to the hospitalized and homebound in Valdez, Alaska, where she has spent the last 13 years. Prior to that, she was in Dillingham, Alaska for 6 years, and spent 7 years in Dutch Harbor, Alaska before that.

In the 70's sister Marie was in Sitka, Alaska at a logging camp, where Catholic Extension helped to pay for a trailer for her so she'd have a place to live.

Today, the personable and articulate Sister is the hospital chaplain at Providence Valdez Medical Center. In this remote outpost, a priest can only visit twice a month, so Sister Marie makes sure that enough hosts are consecrated for her hospital and homebound work - as many as 800 hosts.

A while back, she put a stacking ciborium on her Catholic Extension Christmas Wish List, to keep the hosts for those long in-between times when there was no priest available. She soon received the ciborium, and was grateful to the Catholic Extension donors who helped make that happen.

Sister Marie enjoys the times when she plays piano and guitar, every Monday in the gathering room at the hospital. The old residents become animated and join her in song - "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," "Amazing Grace," and some classic hymns like "The Old Rugged Cross."

She is constantly "energized by people" in her job, Sister says. Young people gravitate to her, and recognize and appreciate the genuine affection she shows them. Many remember her when they are away at college and send her emails to update her on their lives. "The young people crack me up," She says.

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