Spiritual Care

Chilton Medical Center maintains pastoral care services, which are available regardless of religious affiliation. Professional chaplains offer spiritual care to all who are in need while demonstrating a deep commitment and sensitivity to the diverse ethnic and religious cultures found within our area. Pastoral care is also provided through interactions with patients and their families, other professional health care providers, volunteers and community members. Pastoral Care offers the following services:

• Provides specific religious functions, i.e., sacramental and spiritual ministries.
• Provides spiritual solace in life crises, offers support with such issues as end of-life, loss and bereavement, coping with terminal or chronic illness and being a companion on one’s journeys and an empathic listener and a friend.
• Gives care for the whole person spiritually, emotionally and physically.
• Creates an atmosphere of caring.
• Makes referrals to patient’s faith groups.
• Provides spiritual support and education for patients, families and staff.
• Serves as a resource to the community on issues such as advance directives, spirituality and healing, wholeness and wellness, religion and end-of-life issues.
   

The Labyrinth Meditation Walk is available anytime on the first Tuesday of each month starting at 9:00am. It is open for 24 hours, closing on Wednesday at 9:00 am.

The Interfaith Chapel and Private Prayer Room are located adjacent to the main lobby. The Interfaith Chapel brings together people of every religious tradition to experience peace, solitude and spiritual presence. The Interfaith Chapel and Private Prayer Room are always available for use by patients, family and staff, offering a quiet place for meditation and reflection.

Hackettstown Medical Center’s commitment to well-being includes not just the body and mind, but also the spirit. Our professional spiritual care staff offer support, reassurance and counseling to patients and their families, health care providers and the community regardless of individual religious beliefs and practices. In addition, we have a certified chaplain on-call 24 hours a day who can explain advance directives for health care (living wills), do not resuscitate (DNR), physician orders for life-sustaining treatment (POLST) and other end-of-life issues.

The Forrest Kinzli Chapel is located on the first floor of the hospital and is always open for prayer, meditation and reflection. Roman Catholic patients may receive Holy Communion from a Eucharistic Minister by asking their nurse or a chaplain. At your request, we will contact your own pastor, priest, rabbi, imam or spiritual caregiver. The Bible and other inspirational reading materials are also available.

At Morristown Medical Center, spiritual support is available to staff, patients and their families 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We believe in tending to spiritual and emotional needs alongside medical healing. Many patients, family members and loved ones rely upon our hospital in the most trying of times. Our spiritual care team members draw on experience from a variety of racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds to help during life's tumultuous and life-altering moments.

Our chaplains are trained to offer assistance to people of diverse faith backgrounds or no faith at all. They aim to guide a person through spiritual and emotional distress to find meaning, hope, comfort and peace.

For immediate assistance, please ask your nurses to contact the chaplain on call. We also have spiritual reading materials available on request.

An “All Faiths Prayer” is held Monday through Friday at 11:30am in the chapel on Simon 1. All are welcome. Services can also be viewed on the in-hospital channel 12 station.

Chapel: The chapel is located on Simon 1. Just off the main lobby. It is open 24 hours a day for prayer, medication, and devotion.

Faith Services 

While all of our team members are eager to help individuals of any or no faith background, some individuals prefer having their spiritual care needs met by others who share their faith. To meet this need, we have religion-specific services available as outlined below:

For Catholic Patients

Mass is celebrated daily at Noon in the chapel on Simon 1 and broadcast on channel 12 for those unable to attend. Daily communion and Catholic sacramental needs can be requested by contacting the spiritual care office.

For Jewish Patients

A Rabbi and a Jewish chaplain visit Jewish patients at Morristown Medical Center several days each week.

Kosher meals are available for those who follow dietary laws. Please ask contact food services for a menu. A Bikur Cholim room on Level B near the Malcolm Forbes auditorium is maintained by volunteers for the purpose of providing a private space for Jewish prayers, a small library of Jewish books, and kosher snacks and foods when possible. Please call one of our Jewish chaplains at 973-971-5306 for more information.

Please consult our Jewish chaplain to reserve overnight accommodations in the Shabbat room – available on a first come, first serve basis – or to acquire information about additional lodgings that may be available locally.

A Shabbat elevator runs every weekend, starting Friday at 3:00pm through Saturday at 9:00pm. The elevator is number five and indicated with a sign. If you need assistance, please contact the on-call chaplain.

For Muslim Patients

Jumma prayer service is held on Friday afternoons in the chapel located on Simon 1. An Imam is also available on request. Please ask the nurse to contact the chaplain on call.

Newton Medical Center has two board-certified chaplains — one is an ordained minister and one is a Roman Catholic sister. Both serve on the healing team of the medical center as multi-faith chaplains. They are available to meet with you personally, or they can contact your pastor, priest, imam, rabbi or congregation. The chaplains are available to speak and listen with you about your concerns, meet with your family or friends, and supply devotional materials. They will also arrange for any sacraments you may desire and pray with you and/or your family and friends. If requested, they can discuss living wills or Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) issues. In addition, a Roman Catholic priest is on staff for the full support of our Roman Catholic patients and family members. He can meet in patient rooms, as well as privately for conversation with family members.

At Overlook Medical Center's Spiritual Care Department, we care for the whole person – body, mind and spirit. Our staff includes trained, certified hospital chaplains in the Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish faiths, as well as Clinical Pastoral Education student chaplains and many volunteers from various religious traditions.

Chaplains, on call at all times, are always available to discuss spiritual concerns and sacramental needs. If you would like to see a chaplain, simply ask your nurse to have the chaplain paged by the hospital operator.

The Interfaith Chapel is located on the fifth floor (main level) of Overlook Medical, across the hall from the Department of Spiritual Care. It is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for personal prayer and meditation. For those of the Muslim faith, please note that East is facing the stained glass window. 

For Roman Catholic Patients

Mass is celebrated Saturdays at 3:30pm and Sundays at 10:00am in the Bouras Auditorium in Overlook Medical, located on the fifth floor.

Roman Catholic patients may receive Holy Communion by asking their nurse or a chaplain, and they will normally be visited by a Roman Catholic priest to receive the Sacrament of the Sick during their hospital stay.

For Jewish Patients

Overlook Medical Center offers a variety of programs and services to meet the needs of patients and visitors from the Jewish community. We will make every effort to ensure that your stay is comfortable,and your spiritual needs are met. For assistance please call 908-522-2108.

• Shabbat box: distributed on Fridays, which includes
  battery-operated Shabbat candles, kiddush cup, grape
  juice, and challah rolls
• Shabbat elevator
• Kosher snack pantry for family members, located near
  the 4th floor cafeteria
• Visits from our Jewish Chaplain
• Use of our chapel, where prayerbooks may be found
• Regular and travel-sized prayerbooks and Tehillim
  (Psalms) available for patients to use in their rooms
  and to take home
• Glatt kosher food available upon request
• A Sukkah and Four Species, located outdoors for the
  duration of the Sukkot festival
• In-room visit from a community member who will blow
  the shofar during the High Holidays and Megillah
  reading on-site
• Electric Chanukah menorahs provided on Chanukah