March 26, 2007 – The Schneider Regional Medical Center's All Faiths Chapel will host its first quarterly clergy orientation/update seminar and luncheon at 9 a.m., on Tuesday, March 27.
The orientation session is the first in a three-part series set to wrap up in November to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the All Faiths Chapel. It will train clergy on the hospital's procedures and policies, being apprised of on-call clergy rotations and learning how to better care for their parishioners. Clergy members who attend the orientation and three-times-a-year training will receive 24-hour access to patients.
The training sessions include information on confidentiality and privacy procedures, as well as other hospital regulations to help them better provide pastoral services to SMRC patients.
"In order for us to provide the highest-quality health care, we are always looking for collaborations between the hospital and the clergy community," said Rodney E. Miller Sr., CEO of SRMC. "This is also a good way for us to educate pastors about some of the health issues within our facility and in our community."
Internists Dr. Luis Amaro and Dr. Reva Richardson (who also serves as co-pastor at the Living Hope Cathedral) will lead the seminar on autoimmune diseases and the ways in which clergy can assist parishioners through pain management and prayer.
"This will help the clergy members to provide spiritual support within the hospital," Richardson said. "We're not trying to make them doctors, but when you know about a disease and how it affects the body, you know better how to pray for a person."
Clergy will learn about the symptoms of Lupus, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Juvenile Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and other conditions.
Rev. Toi A. Barbel, the hospital's chaplain and pastoral care chairman, said bringing doctors together with clergy is the best thing for the hospital's patients.
"It's a great partnership. We bring in the doctors to give the medical perspective and the pastors in to give the spiritual perspective," Barbel said.
For more information on the orientation and seminar, call 776-8311, ext. 4096 or 643-1372. To schedule an interview with Rev. Barbel, SMRC CEO Rodney Miller, Dr. Amaro or Dr. Richardson, contact Lorraine Baa-Elisha at 776-8311, ext. 2281.
