Above: Lakeview Methodist Chaplain Dale Baruth stands in front of ongoing construction work at the nursing home facility.

FAIRMONT — Just before the COVID-19 pandemic set in, the Lakeview Methodist Health Care Center in Fairmont experienced a change with the retirement of full-time chaplain Bruce Koskovich. His replacement, Dale Baruth, barely had time to settle in before things went sideways.

Having officially taken over the position on January 1, 2021, Baruth is married with four adult children and two grandchildren. He shares his background and what it has been like to work with nursing home residents through a very trying time.

“I came from the Fairmont United Methodist Church before coming here,” he said. “I was the ministry coordinator there for about three and a half years, and then I became a certified lay minister which is how I came here.

“Prior to that, I was in Law Enforcement for 22 years in the Sheriff’s Department in Emmet County, Iowa. Everybody says it must be very different to come from law enforcement into the chaplaincy, but it’s really the same.

“As a police officer, most of your calls are spent in the worst times of peoples’ lives. As a chaplain here, you’re working with people who are in the worst time of their lives because they ended up in a nursing home, or are close to passing, or with their families.”

Baruth shared that he is also retired from the Navy.

“I’m a retired Navy Chief, I retired in 2007 from the Navy reserves. I had ten years of active duty, which actually became 11 because I got called back after 9-11. But during my active duty time, I spent six years on a submarine, with two and a half years of submerged time.”

Baruth shared that he thinks of his service time as a blessing, as it allows him to relate to Lakeview residents in a unique way.

“God puts you in the right place at the right time, because with COVID-19, I have people telling me at different times that I don’t know how it feels because I get to go home at night. But then I tell them I was kind of locked away in a submarine, and I get the comment ‘you do know how I feel.’

“So now we can have a conversation, whereas before we’re kind of outsiders because we don’t know how a resident feels to be locked up.”

Baruth notes that, as a veteran, he has additional opportunities to open up with and relate to residents.

“I had one gentleman that told me a story and then he said ‘I don’t know why I told you that story. I’ve never told anybody, including my wife I was married to for 65 years.’ But they felt comfortable because of my background.

“So we could share those stories there weren’t so pleasant, but they really want to tell that story. They can tell you what they’ve experienced. So that’s been a blessing.”

Baruth shares that, before the pandemic, worship services, bible studies, and visitation with residents ran fairly normal. However, that soon changed.

“I was really just getting into that routine,” he said. “Then COVID-19 hit and nothing has been routine since.”

Again, Baruth’s navy background was able to serve him well.

“I did electronics in the Navy and computers were always of interest to me. So I did some research and found a way to put a TV channel into our Lakeview building. So on their televisions, they turn to channel 99 and that’s their television station.

“So I show ads like saying we’re open for visitation. Then we put the menu and activity calendar. When we didn’t have the activity calendar, I played a lot of old movies for the residents and we were able to show them many of the local Christmas programs that the schools did.”

In addition Baruth puts up Bible studies and services on television, which he says some residents have grown accustomed to. Personally, he has been staying busy helping to conduct window visits on Sunday afternoons, as well as jumping into different positions along with the rest of the staff.

Baruth is excited that physical worship services in the chapel will soon be available to more people.

“For the last two months we’ve been able to have Woodland Manor come over, and this Sunday we’ll be able to have Lakeview residents come down. We’re still trying to get Maplewood in there, but we won’t be able to have everyone because we’ve still got to keep six-foot distancing in there.”