Monday, November 9, 2015

Lexington's Womderful Counselor


The Old Testament Prophet Isaiah foretold of the day when a “Wonderful Counselor” would come to God’s people to provide comfort, consolation, wisdom, and guidance.  Life is too hard and too complicated to make it on our own.  We all need a gifted counselor to help us navigate life’s turbulent waters.  Lexington has been richly blessed to have its own “Wonderful Counselor” for the past 35 years—Dr. Lee Dukes. 

        Lee Dukes is an icon in our community.  In October of 1980 he became the chaplain of Lexington Memorial Hospital, back when Lexington was a thriving community.  Furniture factories were in their prime, textiles were booming, jobs were plentiful, Lexington was growing and life was good.  The new hospital chaplain was creating new paths as he developed the Department of Pastoral Care and pioneered one of North Carolina’s first “Chaplain Associates” programs to provide continuous crisis intervention coverage. 

        In those early years Lee was directing four other hospital departments in addition to Pastoral Care:  Patient Relations, Social Services, Volunteer Services and the Adult Day Care, which was the predecessor of today’s Life Center of Davidson County.  Through all of this heavy responsibility, Lee was quietly developing a reputation as a wise and gifted counselor.  This is his strength, his calling, and his passion.  He has been present with countless numbers of families during times of trauma and grief, healed broken spirits, given new hope and direction to the despondent, helped those who were devastated by crisis to see new possibilities, provided wise counsel to professionals facing major career decisions, and he has been God’s faithful prophet, proclaiming comfort, redemption and grace to those in darkness.  Lee has helped untold numbers of individuals and families through times of distress.  Yes, Lee Dukes is Lexington’s “Wonderful Counselor.” 

        His long and respected tenure at Lexington Medical Center will end next month.  It is hard to picture Lexington hospital without Lee Dukes. A new chaplain has been called and a CareNet Office (a counseling service through Baptist Hospital) will begin offering services, but it just won’t be the same without Lee!

        Lee has blessed this community in so many ways.  In addition to the Life Center, he is also a founder of one of our greatest ministries, Hospice.  He has been one of the strongest advocates and leaders in the new FaithHealth initiative that will be continued by his successor.  In the hospital Lee is the face of bio-ethics and has facilitated this committee for decades.  He initiated and developed the first in-house assistance program for hospital employees to provide psychotherapy services when needed.  And there are scores of individuals who have not had the resources to receive Lee’s services, but he has provided them anyway. 

        Lee first came to Lexington in the 1970s as the Associate Minister of First United Methodist Church.  He has always been available as a trusted resource to the clergy and at least once a year leads an educational session with the ministerial association.  He is our community’s most vocal and eloquent spokesman for Mental Health.  No one has felt our state’s deficiency in dealing with the mental health crisis more than Lee.  He understands that we cannot have a healthy community without adequate mental health resources.  

        My family and I are personally indebted to Lee for his professional counsel and his personal compassion.  He has touched the lives of countless numbers of families in our community with wisdom and mercy. His retirement from the hospital is a monumental change for all of us, but because of his legacy Lexington is better equipped to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God. 

        Thank you Lee for being our “Wonderful Counselor!”