St. Paul has a lot to offer visiting chaplains

By Marian Louwagie CSJ, and Fr. Steve LaCanne

We welcome you to Saint Paul, MN! We think you will enjoy our city. Whether your definition of adventure includes experiencing a slice of history, exploring the banks of the Mississippi River or watching a Minnesota Wild hockey game in “Hockeytown USA,” Saint Paul has all the amenities to make your adventure a memorable one. The Crowne Plaza is located in the heart of the city near the sandstone bluffs of the Mississippi.

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Our patients are sometimes your patients

By Deacon Mike Steele, Phd, BCC

As chaplain and director of pastoral services at a small hospital located in the southeast corner of Kansas, I welcome you to the reality of state-designated rural health networks. It is from these nationwide networks that most large hospital chaplains greet rural patients as “out-of-towners.”

The state of Kansas is a national leader in rural health development with 16 designated rural health networks including more than 80 Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) connected to mid-size and large hospitals across the state. The advantages of being a CAH include cost-based reimbursement for many services, relaxed staffing requirements, and federal grant assistance for prospective CAH’s.

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When you're a department of 1

By Cheryl Fitzgerald, MA, BCC

At a small Critical Access Hospital the chaplaincy department will:

• Offer a “reflection/prayer” at the demolition of the older section of the hospital,
• Visit residents in the nursing home connected to the hospital,
• Provide pastoral presence to a patient moved to the hospice room,
• Respond to an RN’s referral for a staff member in need,
• Meet with a patient in the Emergency Department,
• Visit with patients being discharged,
• Facilitate a caregiver support group,
• Provide a ritual for the family of a dying patient,
• Contact local clergy,
• Document patient interactions for each day.

How does my day as a chaplain differ from the days of many others who do the same work? I am a solo chaplain in a small 25-bed Critical Access Hospital with a 58-bed skilled nursing facility. I am there four hours per day, five days per week. When I enter the room of a patient or resident to provide spiritual care, the work is the same: listening, supporting, praying. The difference in a small Critical Access Hospital is that one chaplain is responsible for all of the chaplaincy coverage.

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Men in wrinkled suits, little girls in ribbons deserve truth

By Rev. Mr. T. Patrick Bradley, MA, BCC

It didn’t seem like a very different day. Louise, a new chaplain intern, was orientating by accompanying me as I made my rounds. She had been a pastor for about 15 years. Most of that time she had been the pastor in charge of youth ministries and had set up a day care center for the church. She had recently taken over the visitation of patients in the hospital for the church. She really wanted to get a feel for what happens in a hospital and how she could better serve her congregants. She was concerned, however, that the sights, sounds and smells of the hospital might bother her.

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