Chaplain Branislav Dedic of St. Thomas Hospice dedicated to spiritual comfort

HINSDALE — Branislav "Branko" Dedic was visiting a hospice patient with terminal cancer. She wasn't just a patient, but a friend he had grown close to for several months who made him promise to be with her and hold her hand when she died — a difficult task for a man who visits hospice patients every day, but he did it.

"She turned her head toward me very difficultly," said Dedic, 67. "Under the sheet, she pulled out her hand and gave it to me. As I held her hand, there was a big smile and this is how she died. This is why I tell you, there is nothing more rewarding."

Chaplain Dedic served as a pastor for 27 years before joining Adventist St. Thomas Hospice in Hinsdale. The Bartlett resident is called upon when a hospice patient requests spiritual support no matter what their religious affiliation may be.

Dedic never preaches his own religious beliefs when he is with a hospice patient, but rather prays with them and the family for comfort.

It's smiles from patients and knowing they have his shoulder to lean on that makes his job so rewarding, he said. At the same time though, it takes a toll on Dedic to have to say good-bye to people forever, every day.

"It's very draining, emotionally," he said. "I'm not lying if I say that at least once a week after some visits, to be able to continue, I have to stop my car somewhere and pray and cry a while before being able to go visit somebody else."

His personal life also plays a role in his job, which he cannot ignore. Dedic's 90-year-old mother is currently ill.

"Each time I see a patient that is older, declining, with stroke, with heart failure, I cannot [help but] also see the face of my mom," he said.

Dedic removed his glasses and wiped away tears as he steadied himself to continue his story.

"I'm sorry," he said before smiling again and thinking about another one of his hospice patients.

At one point in his career, Dedic was visiting a woman in a nursing home who had had a stroke. She was wheelchair-bound and couldn't talk, but was exceptionally nice, he said.

Dedic found out this woman liked candies, so he would bring a special candy each visit. One day after saying a prayer with her, he told her he loved her but wondered if she loved him back.

She smiled at him like so many others he had helped.

"At that moment, with her hand, she reached for my tie," he said. "Then she took my tie and kissed it. Still something I will never forget. This was her way to tell me, 'I love you.'"

Dedic shed a few tears again, this time out of joy.

There is little Dedic hasn't seen in his long history of being a pastor, originally in his home country of Yugoslavia. He then went to Africa for missionary work before becoming pastor at a Yugoslavian church in Chicago until he ended up at Adventist St. Thomas 11 years ago.

"I know that many people would not be able to do it, but I cannot see anything better than being chaplain hospice," he said. "I cannot imagine the day will come when I will have to retire."