The Pastoral/Spiritual Care Staff at Good Samaritan, comprised of certified non-ordained as well as ordained chaplains, wish to meet both spiritual and emotional expressed needs of patients and their families. It is the desire of the pastoral/spiritual care team to enhance the healing process by providing encouragement and support through prayerful presences and attentive listening. In addition, sacramental ministry is available to patients of the Roman Catholic tradition, as well as prayer and devotional materials for persons of other religious traditions.

Mass is televised on Channel 3 at noon, Monday through Friday, at 5:00 pm on Saturday and 6:15 am and 7:30 am on Sunday. A Shabbat service is televised Friday evenings at 7:00 pm for our Jewish patients. In addition, there is a Worship Service televised on Wednesday mornings at 10:30 am.

There is a chaplain available to offer pastoral/spiritual care on each unit of the Medical Center. If for any reason, you have not had an opportunity to speak with a chaplain, please let your nurse know and they will contact the Pastoral/Spiritual Care Department.

We also facilitate a weekly Caregivers Support Group.

As a patient, our Pastoral/Spiritual Care staff offers you and your family:

• Support in your use of personal resources of faith when dealing with an illness.
• Encouragement and a listening ear during difficult times.
• Practical help and comfort in times of grief and in crisis situations.
• Help to explore questions of faith and spirituality.
• Congratulations for the birth of children, progress in recovery, or the healing of an illness.

When providing these services, our staff performs a number of activities, including:

• Visiting you and your family upon admission as well as at your request, on the nursing units, in the waiting areas, the Emergency Department and other outpatient areas.
• Responding to medical emergencies and death situations.
• Providing you and your family information regarding support groups.
• Helping you contact clergy of your own religious tradition to celebrate sacraments and perform rituals.
• Sacramental ministry is also provided by Catholic priest chaplains.

Spiritual values and experiences are not the sole possession of a few or even of the traditionally religious. Our staff respects your unique spiritual practices and beliefs. We invite you to call upon our staff whether you have a religious tradition or not. Human support and compassion know no religious boundaries.

Better at Caring for the Spirit as well as the Body

Illness and injury can pose the most difficult challenges to the human spirit, causing emotional and spiritual stress for both patients and their loved ones. Experience has proven that one's spiritual beliefs can profoundly affect their ability to cope with illness, can provide immeasurable comfort and hope during hospitalization and may even enhance the healing process.

Good Samaritans Pastoral Care Program is one of the most comprehensive hospital-based programs in the area. Pastoral and spiritual care are offered to all patients in a manner that is respectful of their individual religious traditions and also inclusive of those who hold no formal religious affiliation.

The Pastoral Care team aspires to bring to life the gospel values of health and healing for every person, especially those most in need. Specifically, as part of the healing team, chaplains assess each person's spiritual needs and provide pastoral care on an ongoing basis during a patient's hospital stay. Both Ordained and Lay Chaplains visit patients, offering prayerful presence, spiritual support and pastoral and bereavement counseling. Contact with patient's own clergy can be arraigned by request.

Chaplains cover all patient care units throughout the hospital, as well as the off-site dialysis centers and Martin Luther King Jr., Community Health Center.