Contents

Download .pdf version of Annual Report 2000

 
PASTORAL EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Clinical Pastoral Education
HealthCare Chaplaincy’s Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) center trained nearly 300 students in the year 2000, and had more student units than any other CPE center in the country. Through a creative combination of experiential learning and reflection, peer support groups, grand rounds led by clinicians and community leaders, and individual supervision, our program addresses the learning needs of beginning chaplains and those seeking certification in specialized healthcare ministries or as CPE supervisors. the Chaplaincy's also provides continuing education programs for clergy and lay religious workers.
The Rev. Robert Anderson, New York-Presbyterian Hospitals’ CPE residency supervisor, reviews students’ data for a research study examining patients’ wishes regarding prayer during pastoral visits

Students from across America and around the world gathered in New York for HealthCare Chaplaincy’s 11-week summer session of CPE. Comprised of seminarians as well as those making mid-life career changes, students emerged with new skills and self-awareness that prepared them for the unique challenges of clinical practice. “These experiences,” said Evelyn McDonald, a 49-year-old Methodist seminarian with more than 20 years of experience in nursing and hospital administration, “have helped me see how the strands of my life are being woven together: nursing, research, non-profit work, spirituality, ministry.”

the Chaplaincy's ’s Jewish Institute for Pastoral Care enhanced its educational services with two new courses for the rabbinic community. The Compassionate Jewish Leadership program, supported by a generous grant from the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, prepares rabbinic students with the resources and sensitivities needed to minister to marginalized congregants across the spectrum of Jewish faith traditions. In August of 2000, ten congregational rabbinic leaders from a broad range of Jewish experience participated in the Institute’s first rabbinic pastoral care Kallah, a learning/ growth intensive supported by the Alan B. Slifka Foundation and Chaplaincy trustee Matthew M. Ludmer. Participants learned the unique skills of chaplaincy by providing supervised pastoral care to patients at Beth Israel Medical Center and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, our partner institutions.
Chaplain Margot Hover and her specialty residents engage in experience-based learning with a member of the healthcare staff at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Community Programs
the Chaplaincy's ’s spiritual education goals extend beyond those studying to be pastoral care providers. Through a number of educational outreach programs designed for clergy, laypersons, healthcare professionals, and caregivers in families struggling with illness, our chaplains and students build a bridge that connects their knowledge and experience with the communities we serve.

HealthCare Chaplaincy was a community partner for September’s Bill Moyers PBS series On Our Own Terms, about quality of life during the process of dying. We participated in the program’s two-year planning stage and moved the conversation forward through a series of creative community workshops. Participants explored personal liturgies to ritually honor their loss; created “legacy books” of stories, pictures and memories; and discussed the very real choices faced when a loved one is near death.

In collaboration with North General Hospital, the Chaplaincy's co-sponsored a well-attended Harlem community seminar for caregivers entitled “Coping with Illness and Grief Within the Family.” The event, which offered participants resources and insights for responding to the medical and palliative care needs of chronically ill family members, attracted nearly 100 physicians, nurses, social workers, clergy, and caregivers.



Jonathan Berkun and Lauren Eichler		 A BRIDGE OF COMMITMENT
"Everyone is a bit anxious before getting married," said Lauren Eichler, "but CPE has changed that anxiety." She and her fiancé Jonathan Berkun are conservative rabbinical students at Jewish Theological Seminary. They were both enrolled in the 2000 summer session of CPE. The experience gave new meaning to the couple’s connection and upcoming marriage. "Instead of wondering, ‘Is this the right person for me?’" she said, "we are asking, ‘Will I be able to communicate openly? Will I be able to fully connect with the person I love?’ That was a major gift from CPE."