ON CALL CHAPLAIN PROGRAMS BEGINS AT MVH

Spiritual healing is a necessary part of health care.

There are people with unusual uniforms walking the halls of Monongahela Valley Hospital. With the advent of the On-Call Chaplain Program, staff wearing white lab coats and blue scrubs are supplemented by people dressed in black shirts with white collars or plain street clothes.

The On-Call Chaplain Program recently was formed to provide pastoral, spiritual and emotional support to all patients, their families and friends and the staff of MVH regardless of their religious beliefs or denominational affiliation.

Renee Hurley, Patient Representative at MVH, said, “The clergy, staff and patients expressed an interest so we reached out to all of the churches in the area. Reverend Michael Milinovich of the First United Methodist Church in Monongahela and Father John Fierro of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Monongahela offered to assist in developing a program.”

A team was formed to work on the project. That team consisted of area religious representatives Reverend Milinovich, Father Fierro and Deacon Thomas Raymond of the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese and, from MVH, Hurley, Dave Clark, MVH Vice President for Human Resources, Scott McCorkel, Corporate Compliance Officer and Janet Cieply, Community Relations Specialist.

“Reverend Milinovich is president of both the Mid-mon Valley Regional Ministerium and the local Monongahela/New Eagle Ministerium,” Cieply said. “Ongoing contact with multi-faith groups like the Ministeriums allowed us to easily contact the religious organizations in the area and ask them if they would participate,” she said.

“This program in no way supplants the good work that has been done for years in the hospital by area denominations,” said Reverend Milinovich. “In fact, we hope it will enhance it. Reverend Elwood Vandiver ministered to this hospital for many, many years after his retirement. His death precipitated the launch of this project. We currently have 14 volunteer chaplains from many denominations and would like to see that number grow to 25.”

“As part of the process we developed a handbook for incoming volunteer on-call chaplains,” he said. “Our volunteers undergo a rigorous evaluation process. They must be ordained ministers and we check each applicant’s credentials. They consent to drug testing and must attend the hospital’s new employee orientation process. They must also stay in compliance with all ongoing staff education required by the hospital,” Reverend Milinovich said.

“Chaplains respect the patient’s dignity and privacy,” Hurley said. “They do not impose their beliefs or religious practices. Their role is to act as caring listeners who have been trained to help with patient, family and staff’s spiritual needs. They work with in concert with the health care team so that spiritual needs as well as medical needs will be addressed.”

On Monday through Friday an on-call chaplain can be found striding the halls of Monongahela Valley Hospital. They usually come through in the morning and spend at least two hours a day there. When a patient is not in his or her room because of therapy or testing, the on-call chaplains leave a special card behind on the nightstand. That card contains all of the contact information needed to access a chaplain 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The chaplain on rotation carries a pager that is activated by the telephone operators when necessary.

The fact that many patients do not have an ongoing relationship with a clergy member makes the On-Call Chaplain Program an appealing and necessary health care benefit.

"We try to catch the people who may fall through the cracks,” Reverend Milinovich said. “We minister from a holistic perspective and the response from patients and staff has been overwhelming,” he said. “We realize how vital this facility is for our community and our parishioners. We definitely feel like we are part of the health team,” he said.”

"Recently, a nurse at MVH had just passed her nursing boards. The staff was congratulating her and about to cut a cake when I walked through the unit.

Before they ate, they asked me to say a prayer. Needless to say, I was thrilled to be included in their celebration.”

“The On-Call Chaplain Program has been very well received,” Hurley said. “We are seeing a marked increase in our patient satisfaction scores for emotional based support.”

For more information about the On-Call Chaplain Program at MVH, call Renee Hurley, Patient Representative, at 724-258-1076.