Our mission is to provide for the spiritual needs of our patients (and staff) in a manner respectful of their personal beliefs. We do this by chaplain/priest visits; prayers, sacraments, providing inspirational reading material, seeing that Bibles are available, scheduled worship services, liaison with the local faith communities. We offer crisis intervention, grief and bereavement support and staff support as well. We also maintain a chapel, which is open around the clock for personal prayer and meditation.

What about specific requests for individual faiths?

Two priests are in the hospital regularly on behalf of the Catholic Chaplains Corps of the Diocese of Galveston/Houston. They are assisted by a group of trained lay ministers (Eucharistic ministers). Together they provide specific support for Roman Catholic patients. Many community clergy and faith representatives regularly call on patients and their families from their own specific congregations or faith communities. Generally speaking, for the rest of our patients, we function on an inter-faith, inter-denominational basis. If we assess that the spiritual needs require a specific faith representative, we have local contacts whom we can call.

I’ve heard about the Lay Chaplain program. Could you tell me about it?

Trained Lay Chaplain Volunteers serve twice a month in the UTMB Medical and Radiation Oncology Clinics and ICU waiting areas. Most of our Chaplain Volunteers come to us from the Community of Hope training program offered at William Temple Episcopal Center in Galveston. This basic 42-hour training program is offered on a yearly basis. All of our Lay Chaplain Volunteers have been trained in similar programs. The Lay Chaplains serve as pastoral caregivers and not as evangelists. They are trained to respond to patients and staff in a manner respectful of the other’s personal beliefs.

Let’s say that I’m a patient here at UTMB. How would I go about contacting Pastoral Care?

There are many ways, though we are surprised how many people aren’t aware that there are chaplains at UTMB.

When a patient is first admitted to a nursing unit, s/he should be asked their faith/religious preference. At that time they should also be asked if they want to be seen by a chaplain during their hospital stay. We are then notified by nursing of the request.

Or, a person may simply ask their physician or nurse to see a chaplain.

Or, our number, X23909, is listed in the Hospital Orientation information, and we can be contacted directly by the patient, patient’s family, or staff.

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