The New York Times says “Palliative Care (is) one of the fastest-growing fields in medicine.”
Learn Why and How It Can Help You.

What is palliative care and how can it help you? When can you receive it? Isn’t palliative care the same as hospice care? (No.) Who is on the palliative care team? How many U.S. hospitals offer palliative care? What is the connection between palliative care and chaplains? What are the implications of palliative care for public health care policy? What is an Advance Directive?

Get the answers and informative links here.

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Rev. Dr. Martha Jacobs Receives Prestigious
Award from Association of Professional Chaplains

Rev. Dr. Martha Jacobs receiving award from Association of Professional Chaplains president Rev. Sue Wintz

For the Super Bowl, the winning football team earns the trophy named for Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi.

For a board certified chaplain, arguably the most prestigious award is the Anton Boisen Professional Service Award, named after the pioneer in health care chaplaincy and clinical pastoral education.

The Association of Professional Chaplains, at its recent annual conference, honored HealthCare Chaplaincy’s Rev. Dr. Martha Jacobs with the Boisen Award, because she “has demonstrated a commitment to excellence in professional chaplaincy and made unique contributions to contemporary pastoral care.”

Dr. Jacobs has been managing editor for PlainViews^®, HealthCare Chaplaincy’s highly respected, twice monthly e-newsletter for chaplains and other spiritual care providers since its inception seven years ago. PlainViews^® has over 8,000 readers.

She contributes further as a member of the Association of Professional Chaplains’ board of directors and chairs the Communications and Publications Council.

Dr. Jacobs is the current president of the Metropolitan Association of the United Church of Christ and past president of the New York Disaster Interfaith Services. She also continues to serve with the Spiritual Response Team of the American Red Cross.

She is the author of A Clergy Guide to End-of-Life Issues, now in its 5th printing, a much needed book of instruction for both new and seasoned clergy in helping congregants and families navigate the difficult issues surrounding dying. (To order click HERE.)

As she gratefully accepted the award, Dr. Jacobs said, “The Holy in each one of us (as professional chaplains) reaches out to those most in need and brings to that person, that family, that staff member, that one who is struggling, a reminder that they are not alone. A well-trained, professional chaplain is by their side.”

Leading Chaplaincy Educator Earns Doctoral Degree

	Rabbi Dr. Bonita Taylor receives D.Min. degree

Rabbi Doctor Bonita Taylor loves to teach, to learn, and to take on challenges. Among other endeavors, she left a successful business career as vice president of the first international microcomputer software publishing company to become a rabbi and then a board certified chaplain.

Her most recent challenge was to enter the doctoral program at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. This spring she earned a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) in Pastoral Counseling.

In Rabbi Dr. Taylor’s ten years with HealthCare Chaplaincy, she has taught students of all faiths: Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and Jews from all over the globe – Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.

She has done what many had considered unthinkable: to have diverse groups of Jewish rabbis, cantors, laity, and rabbinical and cantorial students, from the most orthodox to the most liberal – Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Lubavitch and Satmar – learning the pastoral skills and arts together, and each one calling their beloved teacher “rabbi.”

Dr. Taylor sees teaching as the path to a better future for all. “I experience G-d’s love,” she says, “and the very real possibility that we can repair the world when, from their varying religious and spiritual denominations and perspectives, my students come together to learn to give better care to themselves and others – and they enrich all of us in the process.”

“Active Listening” Skills Help Seminarians
Succeed in Uganda and Alaska

Seminarians at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary

Professional chaplains are experts at “active listening” – the art of building rapport, understanding, and trust. An active listener acknowledges what the speaker indicates are problems and issues and responds in a way that shows that the listener cares.

Active listening is valuable too for clergy who serve a congregation.

That’s why St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary of Crestwood, NY, sends its second year students for training at nearby St. John’s Riverside Hospital. There they learn active listening through an abbreviated clinical pastoral education course that HealthCare Chaplaincy offers through the Pastoral Care Department. In return, seminarians visit patients and families, providing pastoral care support and deepening their active listening skills.

Recently, three seminarians put their skills to work on assignments which required overcoming significant cultural differences.

One student, John Cox, went to Uganda over the Christmas break. John says, "Active listening truly transcends cultural boundaries. The Ugandan culture, I’m told, is one in which people do not readily reveal their genuine feelings. I found that active listening helped me connect with people who did not know me. I was able to demonstrate compassionate attentiveness which allowed those I met, especially children, to tell of their grief and suffering openly and, I hope, achieve a small measure of healing."

Two other students were assigned to work with members of Alaska’s Eskimo Upik tribe, known to be insular and reserved. Thanks to active listening, the students were able to connect with them, have a productive dialogue, and make a significant contribution to their well-being.