Why Buddhist chaplains are on the rise in US

Rev Laurence in the garden of a memory care facility in Portland before visiting hospice patients to offer spiritual care. Photos: Gosia Wozniacka/AP

Wedged into a recliner in the corner of her assisted-living apartment in Portland, Oregon, the United States, Skylar Freimann, who has a terminal heart condition and pulmonary illness, anxiously eyed her newly arrived hospital bed on a recent day and worried over how she would maintain independence as she further loses mobility.

There to guide her along the journey was Rev Jo Laurence, a hospice and palliative care chaplain.