"Spiritual care" has to do with issues of meaning, hope, and transcendence that are often more pronounced during illness, injury, birth and death. How do I make sense of this? Where will this take me? What gives me the ability to cope? What gives me comfort? What next? For some, spiritual care also includes religious support. For others, it means providing a non-anxious, caring presence in the mid
st of an anxious time or experience. Our Chaplains are involved in patient care in many ways. This can include:
Offering reflective listening and non-judgmental emotional/spiritual comfort
Attending patient care meetings, being involved in ethics consults, working with palliative care
Responding to emergencies
Providing bereavement support at end of life care
Helping with crisis support and treatment decisions
Communicating information and providing education
Being there to hear and celebrate good news
Our Chaplains also are the "go to" people for providing religious support and materials in the hospital. The types of religious support offered by our chaplains include:
Praying Providing sacred writings (e.g., Bibles, Qur'ans) and devotional material
Helping to clarify patients' dietary and/or procedure needs and restrictions
Helping to make connection with a patient's personal clergy and/or community of faith, or providing specific religious clergy and/or ritual support during hospitalization (e.g., sacrament of the sick, communion, baptism).
