UAB Head Chaplain: How to Make Meaningful Connections During Social Distancing

By Matt Windsor
UAB

Loneliness is our specialty.

That mission statement is prominent on the website for UAB’s Pastoral Care team. “We have been focusing on loneliness for a few years now,” said Director Malcolm Marler, who leads a team of 30 chaplains at UAB Hospital. “What we mean by that is the importance of having meaningful connections to others.”

There is a mountain of research showing that loneliness is detrimental to health, Marler said. In a meta-analysis of nearly 150 studies, published in 2010, researchers found that greater loneliness is tied to a higher risk of death. In fact, a study author said, the health effects of loneliness are equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Just last month, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine released a 280-page report on social isolation and loneliness in older adults that linked loneliness with increased risk of dementia, diabetes, stroke, heart disease and high cholesterol. More than a quarter of Americans ages 65 and older are considered to be socially isolated, the report noted.

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