The Rev. Mark Grobner brings a lot with him when he visits patients in Racine's hospitals. One of six hospital chaplains with the Wheaton Franciscan-All Saints health care system here, Grobner can sometimes be seen toting an unusual stringed instrument and its stand as he walks through the halls at the Spring Street hospital with his dog, Kayla, at his side.

Kayla, a 4-year old Chesapeake Bay retriever, is a trained therapy dog who accompanies Grobner to patients' rooms and group activities on Fridays. And the instrument - a hammer dulcimer - is Grobner's way of sharing the peace and serenity he finds in music with the people he meets.

Both are tools of the trade, as well as personal passions, for Grobner, who came to Racine last April after working for a year as a chaplain in Iowa's Wheaton Franciscan health care system. They are also elements of the much bigger picture that is the 43-year-old chaplain's ministry.

Finding his pathA native of Chicago's south side, Grobner came to the chaplaincy in a somewhat roundabout fashion. With a bachelor's degree in psychology, he had been working part time as a community support worker for adults with developmental disabilities when he had a life-changing experience in 1995. Grobner also had a second job with a building materials company at the time. Oddly enough, it was the second job that eventually steered him toward divinity school.

An accident which pinned Grobner between two forklift trucks caused him to lose one of his legs just below the knee. The nine-month ordeal that followed - including eight surgeries, countless tests and procedures and lots of physical therapy - gave Grobner the time to do some soul-searching. And that, combined with an experience he had while attending a retreat with his sister, helped him to realize his mission.

Being a chaplain wasn't even "on the radar" prior to his accident, but when he met a Chicago-based hospital chaplain at the retreat who told him about his work, inspiration hit.

"A light bulb went off in my head," Grobner said. "I had been trying to make sense of my own experience, and after talking to him, I knew this was what I was meant to do."

A year after the accident, he entered graduate school at Chicago's Catholic Theological Union, and in 1999 he earned his Master of Divinity degree. He did his internship at the same hospital that he was a patient in - an experience that the chaplain says was "both very strange and incredibly healing."

"It was important for me to face the emotions and fear I'd experienced in the place where I'd suffered."

Power of presence

Since then, Grobner has been providing comfort and spiritual support to patients in a variety of medical care situations - from trauma survivors to first-time parents. To each situation, he brings a sense of empathy that he says has been heightened by his own experiences. He knows firsthand what it is to suffer - to feel intense physical and emotional pain; to have trouble sleeping in a strange environment; and to be overwhelmed by grief and loss.

"It was the most vulnerable time in my life, and my experiences during that time are what led me to my work as a chaplain," Grobner said. "What sustained me was my faith, the love and support of family and friends and the caring staff who took care of me."

Through it all, Grobner came to realize how important it is for people who are injured or ill to have someone come and spend time with them - someone with whom they can share their story or vent with, or who will just sit with them in the quiet.

"One of the most important things I learned was the power and compassion of human presence," he said.

He also realized the essential role that music and the companionship of a pet can play in someone's recovery. Grobner's family dog kept vigil over him while he convalesced in his parents' home ,and the taped music he would listen to for hours on end provided comfort by transporting him to a place that felt "safe and secure."

"I've always loved dogs, and they have such a unique way of connecting with people," Grobner said.

Unconditional love

Dogs are not only good at providing unconditional love, they are very sensitive to people's emotions and needs, he said. And Kayla is a very social and affectionate dog who loves to be petted.

"Even dementia and Alzheimer's patients who don't necessarily connect with other people seem to connect with Kayla. When the dog comes in the room, they tend to open up."

Having a dog come along on visits also helps lift the spirits of those patients who are missing their own pets during their hospital stay, the chaplain said.

Grobner's connection with the dulcimer began even before his accident, when he became intrigued by a Thai version of the instrument during a visit to a Buddhist temple.

"I grew up playing the drums, and I loved the percussive element of the instrument," he said.

Once he became a chaplain, he knew he wanted to incorporate music into his ministry, but he wasn't sure how. When the instructor at a healing workshop he attended suggested the harp or hammer dulcimer as good choices for providing healing sound, he remembered his previous attraction to the dulcimer and two weeks later began taking lessons.

"God brought the instrument back into my life, and I've been playing ever since," Grobner said.

The reaction of patients to his music is very powerful, he said. One instance he recalled involved a woman in her late nineties who was dying and her son, who had flown in from the East Coast to be with his mother. The son told Grobner that his mother used to play the organ for silent movies and said she would love to hear some music. When the chaplain started playing "Edelweiss" on his dulcimer, the son went over to his mother, put his hand on her and sang along.

"I can only imagine what a comfort that was to her," Grobner said. "The music created that moment."

That is just one of a range of experiences that Grobner says have come from him sharing the dulcimer music with patients.

"Music is just an unbelievable force and a universal language that transcends all cultures and faith traditions. Sometimes I'm amazed at what it has done for people."

To be a part of such experiences with patients is something Grobner feels is a great privilege.

"I know in my heart that this is what I'm meant to do."

CDs of Mark Grobner's dulcimer music are available for purchase at the Wheaton Franciscan-All Saints hospital gift shop, 3801 Spring St., for $10 each. Proceeds from the sale of the CDs through the gift shop go to Wheaton Francisan-All Saints Cancer Center.