Clergy Volunteer Chaplaincy Program Celebrating 50th Anniversary at Grand View Hospital during Pastoral Care Week
(November 1, 2010) Sellersville, PA – A volunteer clergy chaplaincy program initiated by area pastors who recognized a need to offer compassionate spiritual care and emotional support to patients and family members during times of illness, is celebrating its 50th Anniversary at Grand View during Pastoral Care Week, October 31 to November 6.
“For many patients, spiritual comfort in times of illness, injury, or death of a loved one can be an important part of the healing process,” says Grand View’s Chaplain, Reverend Earl Ball. “The unexpected fears and overwhelming threat of an uncertain future can often send patients and their families in search of spiritual as well as emotional and physical healing.”
Since its founding in 1960, the program has grown, with trained lay volunteer chaplains added in 1993. Currently pastoral care is provided by both clergy and lay volunteer chaplains, as well as by the director of pastoral care and chaplain interns through the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program of Penn Foundation.
Chaplains function together along with physicians, nurses and other healthcare staff, as part of a team dedicated to holistic patient care. A chaplain visits daily with most newly admitted patients to listen empathetically and offer spiritual support, comfort, prayer, and a devotional booklet. With permission and when religious affiliation is indicated, a chaplain will notify a patient's clergy person of admission to the hospital.
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Reverend Earl Ball
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Sensitive to the diversity of religious expression, pastoral care at Grand View Hospital is interfaith in approach. Patients and their families are welcome to pause for prayer and meditation in Grand View’s chapel located outside the intensive care unit.
Grand View Hospital, Bucks County’s first hospital, has provided residents of Bucks and Montgomery counties with comprehensive health care services since 1913. Grand View offers a range of inpatient and outpatient care – particularly emphasizing the areas of surgery and orthopaedics, women's and children's health, heart and vascular care, and cancer treatment. Learn more about Grand View Hospital by visiting www.gvh.org. |