Issue #220 – March 28, 2016

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(Items marked with a * are new or updated items)

NACC

1. Executive Director’s Reflection*
2. Have you replied to the NACC member survey to help us with our planning?*
3. Have you seen the March-April Vision issue available on NACC website?*
4. The NACC is deeply grateful to the many systems who already are 2016 Institutional Partners!*

2016 NATIONAL CONFERENCE APRIL 22-25, 2016

5. Haven’t registered for the conference, but interested in attending!*
6. Please consider joining the 2016 Conference via streaming!*
7. The NACC is deeply grateful to all who have become our 2016 Conference Sponsors
8. As you register or if you have already registered, you can still donate to the NACC Scholarship Fund.

CHAPLAINCY NEWS, EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORTS

9. CHA Pastoral Care Advisory Committee seeks to learn what screening questions are being used with clinical teams*
10. Resources for examining spiritual care staffing*
11. Register for the remaining NACC 2016 Webinars.
12. Have you recently checked out the Association of Professional Chaplains webinars?
13. Healing Tree: a request for prayers*
14. Recent job postings*

 

1. Executive Director’s Reflection*
A blessed Easter to you! May you experience daily the Lord’s Risen Presence in your midst!
So what does it mean to experience the presence of the Risen Lord? These two phrases, “that he be visible” and “the witnesses chosen by God in advance,” from the following quote from yesterday’s second reading struck me. “This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” (Acts 10:40-41) This was from yesterday’s second reading.

So what might “that he be visible” and “the witnesses chosen by God in advance” mean for me? I recall an image of the post-resurrection appearances evoked by a theologian friend. He wondered whether the disciples’ post-resurrection exchanges were not so much about recalling the events of the life of Jesus, whom they now miss, but asking the questions, “What was it like when Jesus was with us? What was it like when Jesus was near? What were we like in His presence? When He was in our midst, what did He draw out of us?” Then in the exchange that ensued, in the remembering of who they were when He was near, in recalling how He brought out the best in them, they experienced their true dignity and knew what Love was when He was in their midst, and He became visible again to them. They again were the chosen witnesses!

So maybe this Easter week, I might be helped to reflect again on these questions. So what is it like when Jesus is near? Who am I when Jesus is near? How does the presence of the Risen Lord draw the best from me? How daily am I at my best – and is that what I am like when Jesus is near?

So what is it like when the Risen presence of Christ is near?

Blessings on your Easter Season,

David Lichter, D.Min.
Executive Director

 

2. Have you replied to the NACC member survey to help us with our planning?*
Last Monday our NACC members were sent a survey to help us best present NACC as worthy of financial support from foundations and other prospective funders. We are seeking your insights into how we can state NACC’s value proposition. Your input and perspective are critical in our engagement with potential donors. If you are an NACC member, and have not completed this very brief survey, please do so by going to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/T5R5QQS. Thank you in advance for your time! Your input will help NACC reach out to new constituencies. We look forward to keeping you updated on our progress.

 

3. Have you seen the March-April Vision issue available on NACC website?*
A son faced a moral dilemma, caught between his religious beliefs and his desire not to let his mother suffer. But the goals-of-care meeting with a palliative care physician and Chaplain Charles Sidoti ended with a pleasant surprise. To read more in the new issue of Vision, go to www.nacc.org/vision/2016-Mar-Apr/family-meeting-resolves-sons-moral-dilemma/

 

4. The NACC is deeply grateful to the many systems who already are 2016 Institutional Partners!
The NACC is deeply grateful to the many 2016 Institutional Partners, Endorsers, Supporters, Advocates, and Affiliates who so far have committed in 2016 to partner with the NACC in advancing and supporting the spiritual care profession. If you do not see your system on the growing list, please consider asking to become a partner. You can go to www.nacc.org/about-nacc/institutional-partners/ or contact David Lichter (dlichter@nacc.org).

2016 NATIONAL CONFERENCE APRIL 22-25, 2016

 

5. Haven’t registered for the conference, but interested in attending!*
While pre-registration has now closed, please know that you will still have the opportunity to register to attend the conference when you arrive onsite. Visit the conference registration desk (starting Friday at 7:00 am) to register!
We look forward to welcoming all those who can make it. Please contact the NACC office with any questions (conference@nacc.org).

 

6. Please consider joining the 2016 Conference via streaming!*
As you know, this year’s 2016 Conference will be April 22-25, 2016, at the Chicago Marriott O’Hare in Chicago, Illinois. Well over 400 of our members will be coming to celebrate, learn, worship, and network together. For those of you who cannot attend the conference, we have been able to arrange again for streaming* of the plenary speakers, along with the opening prayer session. These sessions will also be recorded and the recordings made available to you after the event.

This year we needed to charge a modest amount for participating in the live streamed sessions or for accessing the recordings at a later time, to help us cover these streaming costs. This fee is $80 for NACC members and $100 for non-NACC members. This fee covers the opening ceremony and all four plenary speaker sessions. Please note: we do NOT offer separate registration for individual events, this is a package deal that encompasses all the events listed below. We offer 7 CEH’s (1.75 hours per plenary session).

We hope you will be able to take advantage of this LIVE experience of these presentations, a very special offering. The sessions that will be the subject of live streaming are:

Friday, April 22, 2016 at 2:00 pm: Conference Welcome/Opening Prayer and Remembrance of Deceased NACC Members

Friday, April 22, 2016 at 3:00 pm: Do Not Quench the Spirit: Being Open to the Spirit that Transforms, Renews and Gives Hope in Today’s World, by C. Vanessa White, MTS, DMin

Saturday, April 23, 2016 at 10:15 am: Resilience: Returning to God, by Brother Loughlan Sofield, ST, BA, MA

Sunday, April 24, 2016 at 8:45 am: Evidence-Based Chaplaincy Care: Transforming Our Practice, by George Fitchett, DMin, PhD

Monday, April 25, 2016 at 9:00 am: Hope and Good Dying: What Do Chaplains Have to Offer When Cure is “Off the Table”?, by Carol Taylor, PhD, MSN, RN

Please note that all times listed are Central Time.

To view the streamed sessions requires a computer with internet access. Please take a few moments and CLICK HERE to register online. Once registered, you will receive a confirmation e-mail with a link to the site where the plenary sessions may be viewed.
*Streaming is the transmission or reception of live video and audio coverage of an event over the Internet.

 

7. The NACC is deeply grateful to all who have become our 2016 Conference Sponsors
The NACC is deeply grateful to all who have become our 2016 Conference Sponsors, whose financial support helps us keep our fees reasonable, and makes affordable our top quality speakers, and excellent events! Thank you all. Please go to www.nacc.org/conference/gratitude to recognize our 2016 Conference Sponsors.

 

8. As you register or if you have already registered, you can still donate to the NACC Scholarship Fund.
Please consider a donation to the NACC Scholarship Fund. All donations received will help an NACC member to attend the NACC National Conference. Every dollar counts; no amount is too big or small.
The online portal is now closed but you can still send a donation via check. Thank you for your support.

CHAPLAINCY NEWS, EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORTS

 

9. CHA Pastoral Care Advisory Committee seeks to learn what screening questions are being used with clinical teams*
The CHA Pastoral Care Advisory Committee is seeking to identify and create mutual learning among systems and hospitals that have developed and begun to use/test a screening question or questions for spiritual care asked by non-chaplains in outpatient settings. Please let us know if your organization is using or beginning to use a screening question in those settings. Once you have contacted us, we will send you a brief questionnaire to help us learn of your setting. The plan is to create a mutual learning opportunity for this group that will benefit all of us going forward. Please let David Lichter (dlichter@nacc.org) know if your organization has begun screening for spiritual care in those outpatient settings.

 

10. Resources for examining spiritual care staffing*
Over the past weeks, the NACC has received calls regarding resources for examining spiritual services staffing. Some resources to consider are two from the CHA Pastoral Care Advisory Committee: the Sept.-Oct. 2014 Health Progress article by Brian Smith that was the result of work done by the Staffing Subcommittee (https://www.chausa.org/publications/health-progress/article/september-october-2014/spiritual-care-in-the-midst-of-health-care-reform) and a grid that looks at the focus of spiritual care across the continuum of care. Also please see Staffing for Quality Chaplaincy Care Services: A Position paper of the APC Commission on Quality in Pastoral Services on the APC website.

Resources here: Department Structure resources on the NACC website
If you are currently developing tools for staffing or want to create a learning group with others addressing this issue, please let David Lichter (dlichter@nacc.org) know.

 

11. Register for the remaining NACC 2016 Webinars.
You can register for a discounted price for all the remaining NACC 2016 Webinars.
To register online, please click on this LINK. To download a paper registration form, please click HERE.

Here are the remaining webinars.

Continuous Quality Improvement for Spiritual Care Services
Presented by Diane Kreslins, BCC, MPC, Spiritual Director
Thursday, May 19, 2016 – 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. Central Time

Program Summary
Diane Kreslins has had spiritual care leadership roles in several settings and has developed ways to improve how and what is offered. Recently retired from leadership roles, Diane will offer ways to assess the quality of one’s spiritual care service in healthcare in light of current national standards, and to identify quality improvement based on the results of one’s assessment to ensure quality spiritual care services.

Program Objectives
1. Review of the current national standards for quality spiritual care services in healthcare as established by chaplaincy certifying associations
2. Identify a Quality Assessment Questionnaire to assess current standards of practice of spiritual care services in your organization
3. Knowledge on how to compare your current standard of practice to the national standard of practice
4. Identify quality improvement based on results of assessment to ensure quality spiritual care services

The Mercy Outpatient Setting: What We are Learning and Developing
Presented by Jennifer Cobb and Mercy Spiritual Care Leaders
Thursday, June 23, 2016 – 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. Central Time

Program Summary
Chaplaincy Beyond the Hospital: What We’ve Learned and Our Next Steps. Mercy, along with its 46 acute care and specialty (heart, children’s, orthopedic and rehab) hospitals, has more than 700 physician practices and outpatient facilities in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. For several years, Mercy’s mission and spiritual care leaders have been pioneering the development and implementation of spiritual care services beyond the acute care setting. In addition to a wide variety of patient settings, Mercy chaplains also innovate through using technology to provide spiritual care. Since 2014, telephone and email encounters have become a stable part of how chaplains offer spiritual care for those outside the hospital setting. In 2015, Mercy teleSpiritual Care offered the first use of virtual chaplaincy as part of an integrated team approach to in-home patient care. Jennifer Cobb, Director of Mercy Mission & Spiritual Care, and leaders of spiritual care services will offer what they have learned through this journey and what they are initiating now.

Chaplaincy Support for Employee Resilience: A Work of Improvisation
Presented by Charles Ceronsky, BCC, Director Spiritual Care Services, and Judy Connolly, BCC, D.Min, Chaplain
Thursday, July 14, 2016 – 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. Central Time

Program Summary
Across the country, healthcare reform is demonstrating the need for more robust staff engagement even as the stress associated with rapid change mounts. The science of resilience is advancing in ways that suggest that the skillset of professional chaplains is particularly important and timely in that regard. As part of our system-wide strategic planning three years ago, Spiritual Health Services at University of Minnesota Health decided to move beyond mere availability to staff and declare nurturing staff resilience a strategic initiative. This webinar offers a case study of efforts and outcomes that are now fueling new thinking and creative openings for the role of chaplaincy in the support of staff and providers.

Program Objectives
1. Summarize the research that underlines the value of building resiliency in healthcare organizations.
2. Discuss the role of a strategic planning process to generate insight and resolve to prioritize staff resiliency work.
3. Describe the relationship of this initiative with institutional priorities for clinical excellence, patient satisfaction, and employee engagement.
4. Review specific strategies and interventions to consider for your setting.

Certification by the NACC
Presented by the NACC
Thursday, July 28, 2016 – 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. Central Time

Program Summary
This webinar will provide participants with an overview of the NACC certification process, with special attention to the revised NACC standards and procedures. We will present key information about certification and provide a forum for answering questions about certification with the NACC. This free webinar will be presented by members of the NACC Certification Commission. This webinar will be repeated in November.

Renewal of Certification by the NACC
Presented by NACC Certification Commissioners: Augustine (Austine) Duru, MA, MDiv, BCC, Kathleen M. Ponce, MAPS, BCC, and Jane W. Smith, DMin, BCC, AADP
Thursday, August 18, 2016 – 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. Central Time

Program Summary
This webinar will provide participants with an overview of the renewal of certification process and documentation and provide a forum for answering questions about NACC renewal of certification. This free webinar will be presented by members of the NACC Certification Commission.

Metrics for Spiritual Care Interventions: a CHI Kentucky One Initiative
Presented by Rabbi Dr. Nadia Siritsky, MSSW, BCC
Thursday, September 22, 2016 – 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. Central Time

Program Summary
CHI Kentucky One’s Jewish Hospital in Louisville, KY, gets over 100 Emergency Department (ED) visits a day that puts pressure on maintaining high quality service and on staff health. The Jewish Hospital Clinical and Operational Excellence (COE) team worked collaboratively with the Pastoral Care and Clinical and Process Excellence (CPE) to launch an innovative Chaplain Intervention Program (ChIP) that integrated skilled chaplains into the ED environment with a two-fold approach to provide patient care and deliver staff support. Mission leader, Rabbi Nadia Siritsky, BCC, a social researcher by background, will share the process of developing the metrics used to measure effectiveness, what they are learning, and how they are moving forward to integrate metrics in spiritual care.

What Every Chaplain Should Know About the Business of Health Care
Presented by Tim Crowley, MHA, MAPM, LFACHE
Thursday, October 13, 2016 – 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. Central Time

Program Summary
The revised Standards of Practice for Chaplains includes Standard 15, Business Acumen: The chaplain values and utilizes business principles, practices and regulatory requirements appropriate to the chaplain’s role in the organization. NACC (and the Common standards) include standards 305.1 Promote the integration of Pastoral/Spiritual Care into the life and service of the institution in which it resides and 305.3 Articulate an understanding of institutional culture and systems, and systemic relationships. What does this look like from the perspective of Tim Crowley, a hospital executive for over 35 years, who is completing his CPE to become a board certified chaplain for hospice? Tim will offer his healthcare business perspective, providing answers to such questions as: Where does revenue come from? What is my role in managing expenses? Do I really need to manage a budget? Why is spiritual care under the microscope? How does a pastoral care director explain the value proposition of the pastoral care department to administration?

About the Presenter
Tim Crowley is a retired Hospital Executive with 37 years of experience leading hospitals ranging in size from small rural to large urban. He is a Life Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He is a married father of two and a grandfather of five. Tim and his wife, Katie, live in Loveland, OH. He is working toward an encore career as a hospice chaplain, and is currently in his third unit of CPE at Twin Towers, a continuing care retirement community in Cincinnati. He spent much of his career serving as a mentor to students in health administration, and serves as volunteer faculty with the MHA Program at the University of Cincinnati. He also serves on community boards for organizations which focus on the care of seniors, and leads a grief support group at his parish. He holds a BS in Psychology from the University of Illinois, a Master in Hospital and Healthcare Administration from Saint Louis University and a Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry from The Athenaeum of Ohio. A Chicago native, he is an avid golfer and relishes a broad circle of friends.

Ethical Issues Facing Our Healthcare Settings, and Implications for Spiritual Care
Presented by Rev. Thomas A. Nairn, OFM, PhD
Thursday, November 10, 2016 – 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. Central Time

Program Summary
This webinar will provide an overview of the ethical issues that face the work environments within which we function as chaplains. Fr. Thomas Nairn will examine these issues through the lens of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care, and offer suggestions on their importance for our spiritual care ministry.

Certification by the NACC
Presented by the NACC
Thursday, November 17, 2016 – 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. Central Time

Program Summary
This webinar is a repeat of the July presentation, and will provide participants with an overview of the NACC certification process, with special attention to the revised NACC standards and procedures. We will present key information about certification and provide a forum for answering questions about certification with the NACC. This free webinar will be presented by members of the NACC Certification Commission.

Chaplaincy and the Ritual Ministry: Its Role and Value
Presented by Jim Letourneau, BCC and Linda Bronersky, BCC-S
Thursday, December 8, 2016 – 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. Central Time

Program Summary
In the Sept.-Oct. 2014 issue of Health Progress, Brian Smith noted that “The third core competency of spiritual care is the skillful facilitation of meaningful ritual. Rituals serve a deeply human need to create meaning, honor important events and create sacred space for patients, families and communities. Spiritual care providers offer ritual care for a variety of needs and occasions.” Linda Bronersky and Jim Letourneau will explore the role and value of the ministry of ritual, providing a variety of examples of what they have provided and experienced.

 

12. Have you recently checked out the Association of Professional Chaplains webinars?
The APC continues to offer a very helpful series of webinars on a variety of topics on professional chaplaincy. If you have not recently checked them out, please go to: www.professionalchaplains.org/calendar_list.asp

 

13. Healing Tree: a request for prayers*
Please let us know if you would like our membership to pray for your health and healing. Also please let us know when you want us to remove your name from our Healing Tree.

We continue to pray for: the family of Dale Dewitt, Fr. Douglas F. Faraci, Maritza Ramos-Pratt, Jane Chiamaka Onuoha (very young baby of our NACC member Michael Onuoha), Kathleen (Kate) Sullivan, Sandy Tiefenbrun (spouse of Anita Barni), Marie Coglianese, Nancy and Sheila Amrich (nieces-in-law of NACC member Sr. Paracleta Amrich), Isabelita Boquiren, Diana Annunziato (Mother-in-law of NACC staffer Jeanine Annunziato), Sister Patricia Watkins, GNSH, Rev. Gerald U. Onuoha, David Markiewicz (grandson of recently deceased NACC member Roberta Markiewicz), Sister Stephanie Morales, FMI, Marybeth Harmon, Renato Fallico, Susan Balling, Maria Meneses, Chaplain Julia Mary Sweeney (mourning the death of her sister, Margaret Maureen Lewis, BA Honors), Sr. Sheila Prendeville, CPPS, Sister M. Dianna Hell, Sister Maria Theresa Hronec, Betty and Louis Skonieczny, Jim Castello, Jeff Michel (brother-in-law of David Lichter), Thomas from Chicago (12 years old), Thomas Smiley (brother of member Diane Smiley), Marga Halala, Donn Renfro (son-in-law of Karen Pugliese), Amy in Atlanta (friend of NACC member Theresa Sullivan), Thomas (grandson of NACC member Ginny Grimes Allen), Beth from Boston (friend of NACC member Dana Sandlin), Sr. Janet Bielmann, Elizabeth A. Walsh, Francesco Marshall, Glenn and Pat Teske, Susan Murphy, Fr. Jim Radde, SJ, Sr. Mary Clare Boland, SP, Sr. Phyllis Ann DiRenzo, Kathy Brier (daughter of NACC member Theresa Brier), Gloria Troxler, Fr. Kevin Ikpah, and Kelly Elizabeth Sexton (daughter of NACC member Melyssa Sexton).

 

14. Recent job postings*
The following positions have been posted recently on our Positions Available page.
For more information go to www.nacc.org/resources/positions.

DIVISION MANAGER OF PASTORAL CARE
Omaha, Nebraska – CHI Health

VICE PRESIDENT of MISSION INTEGRATION
Towson, Maryland – University of Maryland St. Joseph’s Medical Center

MANAGER of PASTORAL CARE
Evansville, Indiana – St. Mary’s Health System

DIRECTOR OF SPIRITUAL CARE
Carroll, Iowa – St. Anthony Regional Hospital & Nursing Home

DIRECTOR of SPIRITUAL CARE and CHAPLAINCY SERVICES
Lewiston, Maine – St. Mary’s Health System

PRIEST CHAPLAIN
Towson, Maryland – UM St. Joseph Medical Center

CATHOLIC CHAPLAIN
UNM Hospitals, Albuquerque, New Mexico

PRIEST-CHAPLAIN
Anchorage, Alaska – Providence Alaska Medical Center

DIOCESAN COORDINATOR of CATHOLIC HOSPITAL MINISTRY
Jefferson City, Missouri – The Diocese of Jefferson City

MANAGER SPIRITUAL CARE
Chicago, Illinois – Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

CHAPLAIN
Boise, Idaho – Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center

ONCOLOGY CHAPLAIN
Milwaukee, Wisconsin – St. Joseph’s Hospital

CHAPLAIN SITE COORDINATOR
Austin, Texas – Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas

View these jobs and more at: www.nacc.org/resources/positions.