Meet Blaine Allan, spiritual care chaplain, Misericordia Community Hospital

Before the night shift heads home at the Misericordia Community Hospital, Blaine Allan wants to make sure someone has checked in on them.

He asked to start his day earlier to make time for those conversations. He visits teams in intensive care, cardiac intensive care and the emergency department, offering staff finishing a long shift an opportunity to share something difficult, ask for support or arrange a quieter conversation in his office.

For Blaine, caring for the whole person includes caring for the people who spend their days and nights looking after others.

“Every day it feels like a blessing to be here doing what I’m doing,” he says.

That gratitude has stayed with him through a long career with Covenant Health. His work began at the Edmonton General, when it was part of Caritas Health Group. He later spent many years at the Grey Nuns Community Hospital before joining the Misericordia, where he has worked for the past five and a half years.

Across those years, he has come to know patients, families and colleagues through some of the most meaningful moments of their lives. He has shared in celebrations, supported people through loss and seen how much it matters to have someone who remembers your story.

Recently, a nurse asked Blaine to visit a patient nearing the end of her life in the emergency department. When he arrived, one of her daughters recognized him. Fifteen years earlier, he had been the family’s chaplain when her father passed at the Grey Nuns.

Now, he was there to support them again.

These moments are part of his work, but Blaine is careful to explain that spiritual care reaches far beyond the end of life. People may need support as they adjust to illness, face changes in their lives or carry grief alongside their physical health concerns.

He describes caring for patients who are receiving treatment for a heart condition while also grieving the recent death of a spouse. Their medical needs require attention and so does the loss they are living with. Being there for patients and families through these experiences is deeply meaningful to him.

His approach was shaped long before he joined Covenant Health. During his training in inner-city communities and correctional settings, Blaine saw how much it mattered to recognize each person’s humanity. He remembers a woman telling him that his mentor, who was well loved in the community, was the only person who treated her like a human being. What stayed with Blaine was the care she remembered: being treated as someone who mattered.

He carried that lesson into health care. At the Edmonton General, hearing people’s stories became one of the most fulfilling parts of his work. Those conversations helped him understand the person he was caring for, including the experiences, relationships and losses they brought with them.

For Blaine, Covenant Health’s mission and values are woven into the care he offers each day, rooted in love for the people he serves. That means welcoming each person as they are, respecting their beliefs, background and experiences and listening to what matters to them. Caring for the whole person, body, mind and soul, means making space for each person’s needs and helping ensure those who may be overlooked are heard and cared for.

That commitment to whole-person care extends to his colleagues. With training in grief and loss, Blaine helps staff navigate the emotional weight of caring for others, especially after a difficult loss or traumatic experience. Through private conversations and team debriefings, he creates space for colleagues to speak honestly about how their work affects them and find support in one another.

For Blaine, supporting staff also means helping them stay connected to what brought them to health care: the wish to help someone, offer healing and make a difference.

“How do we keep them with that passion and remind them of what gives them purpose, what gives them meaning, what gives them fulfillment?” he asks.

After many years, Blaine still feels grateful for the trust people place in him. Patients, families and staff share things they may find difficult to tell even those closest to them. He sees being invited into those conversations as a privilege.

“I get to walk with them in that journey,” he says.

Looking ahead, he hopes the next generation carries forward the human connection at the heart of care. He values research, medical treatment and continued learning, alongside the attention given to each person’s life and experiences.

He finds inspiration in Covenant Health’s founding Sisters and their determination to respond to people whose needs were being missed. Continuing that legacy means remaining attentive to who needs care and how to reach them.

For Blaine, the commitment is simple.

“The human touch can’t be lost.”