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Overview | Worship | Chapel Location | Services | Clinical Pastoral Education | Contact Information
Overview
Texas Health Resources strives to provide health care services for the whole person — body, mind and spirit. In keeping with this commitment, the Department of Pastoral Care maintains a presence at each Texas Health hospital and at the corporate office. In addition, each site offers a chapel for prayer, meditation, quiet time and worship.
Spiritual care delivered through the Pastoral Care Department and by others in the organization addresses concerns of the spirit: faith, hope, despair, meaning, purpose, life, death, guilt, forgiveness, fear and doubt. Pastoral care offers help for people trying to connect meaning with life circumstances that don't often make sense or seem fair. Members of the Pastoral Care departments have answered a call to offer hope for those in the middle of brokenness. Pastoral Care Department chaplains do not try to convert people. They are trained to help bring together the physical, emotional and spiritual components that are necessary for an individual to experience healing, health and hope. Spiritual care services are available to patients, family members, hospital employees and medical staff members.
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Worship
There are no regularly scheduled worship services at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Stephenville, but the chapel is available around the clock for patients, family and staff members.
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Chapel Location
When entering the hospital through Emergency Services entrance, the chapel is on the left.
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Services
The Pastoral Care department offers the following services:
- Patient and family visitation
- Response to referrals by physicians on the medical staff, nurses, patients and clergy
- Pastoral support for families of inpatient or outpatient procedures
- On-call availability 24 hours a day, seven days a week
- Counseling and care for medical staff, employees and members of the community
- Support groups for persons who experience loss or chronic illness
- Worship experiences for patients, employees and medical staff in the chapels and at the patient's bedside
- Bibles in patient rooms and other areas as well as literature related to spiritual and emotional issues concerning health care
- Sacramental and ritual services (baptism, holy communion, anointing) provided by Pastoral Care staff or by arrangement with representatives of a recipient's religious community
- Decedent care and memorial services
- Journals provided in most chapels for expression of prayers, meditations and spiritual requests
Texas Health Stephenville provides a staff chaplain on duty one day each week, with the rest of the time covered by volunteer chaplains who aid the community by providing pastoral care at the hospital. The volunteer chaplains are local clergy who have received training and respond on an "on-call" basis. A patient, family member or medical staff member can request a chaplain visit through the attending nurse, who will page the on-call chaplain.
Requests for chaplain services from outside the hospital can be made through the Social Services office at 254-965-1535.
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Clinical Pastoral Education
Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is practical, hands-on theological education for ministers or seminarians. CPE combines ministry with a curriculum designed to help CPE students learn about themselves as ministers as well as how to meet the spiritual needs of those in their care.
Students in CPE Programs are members of their hospital's Department of Pastoral Care and they function as chaplains in their institutions. The Departments of Pastoral Care are well integrated into the patient care functions of these hospitals and students in the education program have many opportunities to engage in ministry to patients experiencing health-related crises. They give bedside ministry to patients and their loved ones, participate in an on-call rotation for weekday night and weekend crisis ministry and work on interdisciplinary care teams.
A Unit of CPE is at least 100 hours of structured group and individual education. Each Unit is accompanied by supervised, clinical practice in ministry. The combined time totals no less than 400 hours.
The Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc., (ACPE) accredits Texas Health to offer CPE programs.
CPE Programs offered include:
- Extended Unit Program - Designed for persons who can commit 12 to 20 hours a week to CPE training and supervised ministry; this program begins in September and continues until April. It is flexible enough that participants who have a current place of ministry may count hours of their work toward required hours of the Extended Unit.
- Clergy Leadership and Ministry Enhancement Program - Participants in this program will complete two units of parish-based CPE in the September to April time frame. Participants will have a mentoring relationship concurrent with and continuing a year beyond the CPE experience. United Methodist clergy will be given preference.
- Summer Unit Program - This program is designed for seminarians or others who wish to participate in an 11-week, full-time program that begins in June.
- Residency in CPE - The Residency in CPE is a yearlong, funded program in which participants complete four units of Clinical Pastoral Education. The program is designed for persons who are preparing for careers in ministry including ministry in specialized settings. Residents have regular on-call responsibilities, which they share with night-time staff chaplains, and are deeply involved in crisis ministry in support of patients and their families. The residency begins annually, mid-August.
For more information about CPE Programs, please contact the HMHS CPE Center at 817-882-2093.
The ACPE accredits Harris Methodist Health System to offer Programs of Level I and Level II CPE. ACPE's Executive Director is the Rev. Teresa Snorton, D.Min.
ACPE office address:
1549 Clairmont Road, Suite 103
Decatur, GA 30033-4611
Phone: 404-320-1472
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Contact Information
The Pastoral Care team provides pastoral and spiritual care to patients, employees, families, medical staff members and their families. Local clergy provide pastoral care to members of their congregations.
To contact a chaplain or a representative from a particular faith, please call the switchboard operator at 254-965-1500 and ask that the chaplain on-call be paged. A chaplain is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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