Community Corner

Chaplain Uses Musical Roots to Soothe the Sick

Art Stagg is the chaplain at Florida Hospital Carrollwood, 7171 N. Dale Mabry Highway

Some days, he sings hymns. On other occasions, he'll strum his guitar while crooning John Denver tunes.

At Florida Hospital Carrollwood, Chaplain Art Stagg merges his musical roots with the religious ones that sprouted in his 20s by standing in the hallways performing in an effort to make patients' days a little brighter. His melodious method of consoling the sick isn't something expected of a chaplain.

Then again, neither was the journey to where he is today.

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"I see myself as an introspective, shy, wallflower kind of guy," said Stagg, 59. "Being a pastor and chaplain puts you out there. It's about helping people have hope, and encouraging them for a moment to maybe look for the bigger picture."

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Stagg was born in Memphis and grew up in Seattle as the oldest of four siblings. He didn't have a religious upbringing, and wasn't sure what he was going to do with his life once he reached adulthood.

"I was in an emotional place where I wondered where I'd be in five years," he said. "It worried me."

One thing Stagg had was music. He was the front man in a rock group and was friends with the drummer, who had been raised as a Seventh-day Adventist. Stagg, the drummer and the drummer's girlfriend carpooled to blue collar day jobs. One day, the couple began praying for Stagg, and invited him to church.

The visit to church proved life-changing for Stagg.

"I had a moment where I answered an altar call," he said. "Like the next week, I stopped drinking, doing dope. My drummer friend quit, too."

Stagg was baptized a year later.

"When I came out of the baptismal tank, I had the biggest grin," he said. "I knew I had made the best decision in my life that I could."

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Stagg's spiritual transformation caused him to want to learn more about the Bible. More than anything, he wanted to have an "intelligent conversation with people."

So he enlisted in the U.S. Army, thinking that the G.I. Bill was a good way to pay for school. He enlisted secretly, not telling friends or family.

He was scheduled to report to training camp on Dec. 15, 1974.

As that day grew closer, Stagg told his pastor and some church friends. But his pastor, who had been a chaplain for the military in Korea, reminded Stagg that his newfound religion could conflict with his duties in the U.S. Army on Saturdays - commonly referred to as the Sabbath Day - used as a day of rest by Seventh-day Adventists.

"He said, 'You're going to be more trouble to the Army than the benefit you're going to get,'" Stagg recalled.

Stagg went to the military office and stayed until 5 p.m. No one there called his name, causing Stagg to question his next step in life.

"I knew I had to go somewhere," he said, "because I couldn't keep doing what I was doing."

He ended up in Palo Alto, Calif., where he sang for local churches. A few people approached his pastor and suggested that Stagg study for the ministry. He chose a school in Memphis because he was born there. He worked at Little Debbie, the snack food company, to make ends meet. He got through school without a bill.

He met his wife, a nursing student at Southern Adventist University, and they married in 1978. They eventually had two children, a son and a daughter.

Stagg had graduated with no job, and pondered a law degree. One afternoon, he was playing soccer, and his ankle got stepped on by another player. He was sitting out for the rest of the game when a stranger approached him.

Stagg's wife had dated the man's son years ago, and the man was a youth director at a church in Tampa. He offered Stagg a job in Tampa at Southside Seventh-day Adventist Church, now Carrollwood Seventh-day Adventist Church.

He took the job, and later got his master's degree at Andrews University in Michigan. He served as a Seventh-day Adventist church pastor at various congregations across the country, most recently at a church in east Pasco.

Last year, Peter Bath, vice president of mission for Florida Hospital Tampa Bay division, approached Stagg about becoming the chaplain the hospital, 7171 N. Dale Mabry Highway. He took the job in March of 2011.

Now, Stagg's days consist of checking a hospital log to make sure he greets new patients to welcome them and ask if he can be of spiritual service. Sometimes, he does devotionals for staff meetings. Other days, he responds to a code blue calls to comfort families in distress. Or, he'll strum his guitar in a hallway for patients and nurses.

He said the training he's received over the years hasn't prepared him for some of the things he's seen.

"You never get used to someone dying, and the effect it has on a family," he said. "I wasn't prepared for how emotional some will be. Wailing, or beating their fist through a wall."

One thing his training taught him was not to intervene in those situations.

"People think you've got to get them to stop," he said. "You have to let them drain themselves of the moment, let them scream and get it out."

When he isn't at the hospital, Stagg plays golf once a week and takes walks with his wife near their Zephyrhills home.

"He is very diverse, outside of his day job, which I think helps him relate to all kinds of patients and family members and situations in the hospital on a daily basis," said Will Darnall, spokesman for Florida Hospital Carrollwood. "I think I speak for everyone in our system to say we're lucky to have a guy like Art helping patients and families on a daily basis."

Stagg said he is grateful for the journey he's been on.

"No one really knows where their life is going to end up," he said. "I said I'd be a pastor until I retired. Now, my congregation is nurses, doctors and technicians."


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