Chaplain helps bring thousands of paper cranes, and hope, to Abbott Northwestern Hospital

[WCCO-TV News, January 11, 2021] An art display at Abbott Northwestern Hospital is boosting spirits during difficult days. It’s a moving international effort that started with a single piece of paper.

As a pastor for 14 years in Tokyo, Kazuhiro Sekino started his studies to become a chaplain at Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis this past summer — an entirely different assignment during a pandemic.

Sekino looked for a way to comfort one particular COVID patient through the constraints of his PPE.

“I was wondering how can I deliver my heart to him,” Sekino said. “As I handed [the crane] to him, he … started crying because he had no visitors at all.”