Pastoral Care
The role of pastoral care is guided by Piedmont Henry Hospital’s mission which is “to deliver quality healthcare and to promote an atmosphere of wellness.” That mission individualizes the patients and puts the well-being of each at the center of health care. The role of pastoral care is interdisciplinary by the very nature of the hospital’s mission. Similarly, a Chaplain’s work is determined by the expressed beliefs, wishes and spiritual and human needs of patients and their loved ones. It is about utilizing and reinforcing patients’ and families’ beliefs in their efforts and struggles to recover or to cope with dying and loss and grief.
It is to be emphasized that pastoral care is not about where the Chaplain is at and what he or she has to bestow, but where the patient is at and what she or he has to share. It is about empowering patients and their families, not imposing any beliefs or value system on them. It is about empathy not evangelism. Respect for the patient’s right or privacy and belief is fundamental. This emphasis is not to minimize the identity and faith of the Chaplain. Rather, it is to stress the pastoral care qualities of self-awareness and inner emotional security that prepares the Chaplain to allow patients and their families to be who they are.
The hospital is a unique crossroads of humanity, and thus also calls for pastoral care that is comfortable with and accepting of diversity of belief or non-belief. Many patients and their loved ones represent the various Christian denominations. A number are Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus. Some are Sikhs, Wiccans, Native Americans. Others are not affiliated with a religion. A few are agnostics and atheists. A hospital especially reveals not only humanity’s diversity but its commonality as well, a value also to be deeply appreciated by pastoral care. Illness confronts all people with their mortality and hence their vulnerability, their humanness—their oneness and connectedness with each other. In a hospital, the common humanity people share comes to the fore and tends to transcend their differences. Here there is the pronounced mutual sharing of struggles with life and death, hope and fear, pain and anguish, love and anger, joy and sadness. And it is these very struggles that bring out the tremendous wisdom that patients and their families possess. The role of pastoral care is to affirm these common human struggles and the wisdom they elicit by giving them air and reverence.
Availability is the key in pastoral care. Like medical care, pastoral care is 24/7. The hospital’s staff chaplain and the team of volunteer chaplains make daily rounds, as well as responding to codes, traumas and patient requests.
You may reach a Chaplain by calling 678-604-1054 between 8am and 4pm. At all other times you may reach a Chaplain by dialing “0” from a hospital phone and asking the operator to contact the on-call Chaplain. Or you may ask your nurse to contact a Chaplain for you.
Piedmont Henry Hospital’s Chapel is open at all times for everyone. It is located on the first floor of the South Tower. Cards are located on the front table of the chapel to record a concern, prayer request, or celebration so that others may share your burdens or joys.
Prayers offered for healing and hope:
- Christian Prayer for Healing
- Jewish Prayer on Behalf of the Sick
- Muslim Prayer of Consolidation and Patience
- Hindu Prayer for the Healing of Body, Mind and Spirit
Advance Directives
The best way for you to be in control of your medical treatment is to record your preferences in advance. You can make legally valid decisions about future medical treatment through an Advance Directive. In completing an Advance Directive, you can do two things: legally appoint someone as your Personal Agent for Health Care to make healthcare decision for you when you cannot speak for yourself and/or formally state your wishes for the medical treatments you do or do not want to receive.
The Advance Directive combines the Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. You may request an Advance Directive document during admission, from your nurse, by calling Pastoral Care at 678-604-1054 or Quality Management at 678-604-1056, or you may download a copy by clicking on the link below.
Download Georgia Advance Directive
If you have made your wishes known, it is our policy to honor a patient’s Advance Directive or any other health care directive that meets the requirements of Georgia law.
Volunteer Chaplaincy Program
The Volunteer Chaplaincy program plays a vital role in carrying out the Pastoral Care mission. The Pastoral Care department is not sectarian but rather Chaplains are equipped to help persons use their faith, beliefs and values to promote health, wholeness and healing.
To become a Volunteer Chaplain you must submit an application, interview with the manager of the Pastoral Care department, and complete the hospital’s orientation program. All applicants must consent to a criminal background check. To receive an application, click on the link below or call the Pastoral Care office at 678-604-1054.
Volunteer Chaplain Application
Education for Professional Ministry Program
Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) programs allow ministers, seminarians, and other religiously-oriented persons to develop counseling and pastoral care-giving skills, familiarity within a particular pastoral setting and self-awareness as a pastoral caregiver.
Piedmont Henry Hospital is accredited by the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy, Inc. CPSP publishes standards which detail the requirements for faculty, curriculum, educational environment and for admission into CPE programs.
A typical CPE program follows the standards set by its accrediting organization, normally requiring a minimum of 400 hours of supervised learning per unit of training. Piedmont Henry Hospital offers extended time unit which adheres to this requirement. Institutions typically require two to four units of CPE for eligibility for consideration for Staff Chaplain or equivalent professional pastoral care positions, and may, at their discretion, require more.
Each CPE student will be assigned to several areas of pastoral responsibility for clinical pastoral work.
- Clinical Visitation (300 hours per unit)
Each trainee will be responsible for completing 300 hours of clinical visitation (15 hours per week) at a clinical site determined in consultation with the supervisor. Clinical visitation will include interactions with patients, family members and hospital staff if requested. The clinical visitation time will become the source for case study presentations. - Case Seminars (80 hours per unit)
The purpose of this series of meeting is to allow for reviewing and critiquing case reports of actual pastoral visits. - Interpersonal Relations (10 hours per unit)
This peer group learning experience has a dual focus. First it provides opportunities for students to explore various personal and professional issues that may arise during their ministry.
Second it allows an experiential study of group formation and development, utilizing the group experience itself as an educational tool. - Didactic Presentations (10 hours per unit)
Lectures and presentations are provided for the group’s learning. The CPE supervisor and inter-disciplinary professionals present information on pastoral, ethical and health care concerns. - Individual Supervision (6 hours per unit) Students meet one-on-one with the supervisor to review pastoral work, reflect on personal and professional growth and evaluate progress toward individual learning goals which are established at the beginning of each unit.
Tuition is paid to Piedmont Henry Hospital. Students are also responsible for any textbooks used.
Upon completion of each 400 hours of supervised learning, students receive certification of the successful completion of that unit.
To apply for the Clinical Pastoral Education program, please click on the link below.