APC e-News
news and information from the Association of Professional Chaplains  June, 2011 |
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This edition of APC e-News is sponsored by
The C.A.R.E. Channel
DMin in Pastoral
Care for Directors.
Four one-week intensives
over 18 months. Apply
by Sept. 30. Contact
Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs
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Memorials | |
APC extends our sympathy to the family and friends of APC members who have died. Memorials may be viewed on the APC website, where you will find them in alphabetical order by last name.
Mary Elizabeth Berry BCC
Rev. Jon A. Nyberg BCC
Rev. James E. Richardson BCC
Rev. Marisa Rozdilsky BCC
Kenneth D. Eggen BCC |
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Mid-year Tune-up |
by David C. Johnson BCC
This year in my role as president of APC, I have attended four conferences in as many months. I began in January with the COMISS Network in Washington, DC and joined representatives from employers, endorsers, certifiers and educators in discussing the impact of cultural changes on how we understand professional chaplaincy. In February, I found myself at the Racial Ethnic Multicultural (REM) meeting in Richmond, VA as I attempted to promote APC to those in attendance. Most of the attendees had never heard of our organization and had not thought about professional chaplaincy as an avenue of ministry. In March, I joined 800 of our fellow APC members at our conference in Dallas. It was a wonderful event where we gathered together to celebrate with newly certified chaplains, network with colleagues in various settings, and reconnect with those we have not seen in a while. Finally in April, I found myself in Salt Lake City at the ACPE annual conference. While it was snowing outside, Pat Appelhans and I were being warmly received inside as we were marketing to ACPE supervisors the value of being board certified by BCCI.
With that flurry of activity coming to an end, it may be a time to perform a sort of a mid-year tune-up to ensure things are running correctly and smoothly. APC continues to be proactive in its desire to grow its membership and broaden its ability to communicate effectively for professional chaplaincy. Promoting APC at national chaplaincy conferences certainly reaps benefits in terms of membership. In addition, engaging in conversations with our organizational partners about areas of "common professional interest" allows APC to continue to vision how best to service its membership and the profession of chaplaincy. The future is never certain, and it is only through keeping our eyes on our goals that we will sustain ourselves in this ever-changing business climate.
Rev. David C. Johnson DMin BCC is assistant director for operations in the Pastoral Care and Education department of Carolinas Medical Centers in Charlotte, NC. He serves as president of APC and may be contacted at David.Clark.Johnson@carolinashealthcare.org,
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Governance Task Force Update | |
by Valerie Storms BCC
The Governance Task Force has been working hard since my last report. The task force is reviewing all areas of governance, from the commissions, councils and committees to the optimum size of a board of directors. What we have learned is that this task takes a new way at looking at the present in order to move toward the future.
Do you remember when you first learned to ride a bicycle without training wheels? It may have been a little wobbly at first, but soon you got the hang of it, learned how to keep your balance, and wherever you steered the front wheel is the direction you traveled. Was there ever a time when the back wheel did not follow in the direction you steered the front wheel? If there was, then chances are you landed on the ground because your back wheel had come loose and had flown past you until it crashed somewhere up ahead.
The Governance Task Force is learning that the best way to think of the governance of an organization is to imagine that two-wheel bicycle. The front wheel is the one that sets the direction - the governing one. The back wheel follows and puts some energy into following the front wheel.The back wheel is the operations piece. It takes direction from the front wheel and then helps to make things happen.
If the back wheel is lost or comes loose, then as in the illustration above, the organization lands on the ground. The front wheel cannot go anywhere without the back wheel. Likewise, without the front wheel to provide direction, the back wheel gets nowhere.The two wheels are interdependent and, in order to get anywhere, each must fulfill the mission it was designed to accomplish.
To put this illustration to work within APC, the board of directors would be the front wheel, doing the governing piece by making decisions and setting the direction that APC would go. The national office staff and APC member volunteers, including committee chairs, committee members, task force members, etc., would be the back wheel, setting into motion all that would need to be done to get APC where it needs to go. As with the real bicycle, both of these "wheels" are essential to keep APC "on the move."
The Governance Task Force will contine its work to develop a set of recommendations to present to the board this fall. Stay tuned.
Rev. Valerie Storms MDiv BCC is manager of pastoral care at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL. She serves as APC president-elect and may be contacted at valerie.storms@moffitt.org.
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Education Knowledge & Resources Survey | |
by Sharon Cates BCC
The APC Education Committee and Webinar Subcommittee are asking for your help in compiling a Knowledge & Resources Directory of chaplaincy topics, presenters, publications and materials. The deadline to participate is Monday, June 20.
We want to hear about your areas of interest and perhaps your willingness to share in a APC webinar or other educational venue. What resources have you found invaluable for your ministry? Who are the mentors you reach out to in your field? Please take a few minutes to share your ideas and resource suggestions by participating in our Knowledge & Resources Survey.
Your responses will help us plan future continuing education webinars, events and learning opportunities. In addition, each participant will have the option to share their responses with colleagues in the Knowledge and Resources Directory, which will be made available in the Members Only section of the APC website. Thank you for your participation.
Rev. Sharon Cates is a chaplain at Mercy Medical Center in Souix City, IA. She serves on the APC Education Committee as chair of the Webinar Subcommittee and may be contacted at catesse@mercyhealth.com.
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| Supporting Our Colleagues in the Wake of Disaster | | From January through May 2011, communities in at least a dozen states have experienced the trauma of natural disaster. This spring has been especially severe, with a volley of tornadoes, floods and storms in a few short weeks. The APC leadership has sent letters of support to members in the affected areas as well as forwarding appeals from the American Red Cross for board certified chaplains to serve on Spiritual Care Response teams.
Now the leadership seeks your help in reaching out to colleagues in need of support. We would also like to hear from chaplains who live and work in the affected areas or who have deployed to assist. Although the news media cycle quickly moves on, we know that the need for support will continue in the weeks and months ahead.
Therefore, APC is encouraging members to post prayers, resources, requests for assistance and updates about conditions in your area in the APC website Discussion Forum under "Crisis Intervention/Disaster SIG." Through these posts, members can immediately connect with and respond to colleagues in times of crisis. To post in the Discussion Forum, you must first create an account by registering the user name and password of your choice.
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APC Grants Lifetime Membership Status to Chaplains Over 80 | |
by Patricia F. Appelhans JD
At its spring meeting, the APC Board of Directors adopted a new policy: Any retired member who turns 80 years old will be granted a Retired Life Member status. Once at this status, the chaplain will no longer be invoiced for annual dues.
APC values the lifelong contributions of our retired chaplain members to our profession and our professional organization. We appreciate retirees' desire to remain connected to their colleagues and support APC through membership. At the same time, we understand the financial hardship many retired chaplains face with limited retirement income and increasing living expenses. Sometimes, continuing one's professional memberships well into retirement can be challenging.
As we don't have age or birth date information for many of our members, we hope you will notify us when you have arrived at this age, so we can award Retired Life Member status to you. If you have any questions, please contact the national office at 847.240.1014.
Patricia F. Appelhans JD is executive director of APC and its affiliate, BCCI. She may be contacted at pat@professionalchaplains.org.
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APC e-News Seeks Member Submissions | |
by Martha Jacobs BCC
The Communications and Publications Council is pleased to announce that APC e-News is expanding. In response to requests to provide more opportunities for our members to be published, beginning with this issue, we will include article(s) in the APC e-News written by our members that can be responded to immediately on the APC website Discussion Forum, under APC e-News. We suggest that readers subscribe to the APC e-News forum so that they will be notified of new posts and responses. It is our hope that there will be ongoing dialogue with the author, who will then take the comments that were made and further develop his or her idea, which may then be submitted to Chaplaincy Today for consideration for publication. These 600-word APC e-News articles will be written by our members only. We hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity to write about your work. Submissions can be sent to rita@professionalchaplains.org.
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Meaningful Connections: A User-Friendly Definition of Spirituality | by Mark LaRocca-Pitts BCC
Professional chaplaincy needs a concise definition of spirituality that clearly and directly lends itself to application and explication in a clinical setting. Definitions of spirituality proliferate in medical and allied professional literature. Details certainly vary, but a vast majority of these definitions include at least one reference to meaning or connectedness and many refer to both. For example, leading medical and spiritual care experts in the palliative care field recently published the following consensus definition: "Spirituality is the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they experience their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred."1 Though this definition is descriptive, it does not readily lend itself to application and explication in a clinical setting. In short, it is not user-friendly.
For a more user-friendly definition for professional chaplains, I suggest that spirituality, in essence, deals with meaningful connections. This definition holds that people seek and express meaning and purpose only through their experience of connectedness. In other words, as tripartite beings (body/mind/spirit), humans experience connectedness from the womb onward, and from this experience of connectedness, humans derive meaning and purpose. This human way, as it were, is in the final analysis spiritual because it is this ability to connect that makes humans spiritual.2 Any disruptions, amplifications or reverberations in these connections affect the human spirit. Spiritual care works with these connections affecting spirit.
Thus, in order to understand another's spirituality, the chaplain assesses those connections that the patient identifies as meaningful and then, with the help of the patient, arranges them on a continuum from most meaningful to least. Those that have ultimate meaning for the patient may be considered sacred (or significant) and those that are least meaningful may be considered mundane (or insignificant). These connections will be defined in the patient's own terms and according to the person's own experience but will generally fall into the broader categories of the moment, self, others, nature and the sacred/significant. These connections will be meaningful to the patient to the degree they inform the patient's sense of purpose. The more central a given connection is to the person's sense of purpose, then the more meaningful that connection is. The most centrally defining connection affecting the person's sense of purpose may be understood as "the sacred" for that person.
All people live within a complex web of meaningful connections, so the chaplain's task becomes one of assessing that web to determine the relative ordering (or hierarchy) of these connections for the patient and which of these connections, due to the patient's illness crisis, may be fractured, stressed or nurtured. Listening to the patient's story elicits this information. How this story unfolds depends upon the nature of the relationship, the amount of time available to the chaplain, and the chaplain's skill at drawing forth the story. In some settings, the relationship remains introductory and time is extremely limited, so the patient's story unfolds largely due to the chaplain's skill. Engaging the patient within the constraints of time and limited relationship means having an assessment tool that enables the chaplain to "get at" the patient's web of meaningful connections quickly and conversationally. A spiritual assessment tool ideally suited for chaplaincy work within such clinical settings is the "Four Fs," which will be discussed in the next issue of APC e-News.
Mark LaRocca-Pitts PhD BCC is a chaplain at Crossroads Hospice in Atlanta, GA. He serves on the Communications & Publications Council as chair of the History Committee. He may be contacted at mark.laroccapitts@gmail.com.
Responses to this article may be posted in the Discussion Forum under APC e-News.
1 Christina Puchalski, Betty Ferrell, Rose Virani, Shirley Otis-Green, Pamela Baird, Janet Bull, Harvey Chochinov, George Handzo, Holly Nelson-Becker, Maryjo Prince-Paul, Karen Pugliese, and Daniel Sulmasy, "Improving the Quality of Spiritual Care as a Dimension of Palliative Care: The Report of the Consensus Conference," Journal Of Palliative Medicine, vol.12 no. 10 (2009): 885-904.
2 Mark LaRocca-Pitts, "Spiritual Care Means Spiritual," PlainViews, vol. 6 no. 2 (Feb. 18, 2009).
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Healing, Noise and Norms White Paper | |
While Florence Nightingale identified noise as a risk factor over 150 years ago, current hospital environments remain characterized by auditory clutter: technologies, larger patient/visitor populations, and physical spaces that are, themselves, noisy.
Ministering to patients and families in an environment that is, itself, counter to comforting the most intimate and personal of fears is most difficult. Understanding the risks of an out-of-control auditory environment, and recognizing the benefits of proactively addressing these issues offers a sustainable means of supporting patients, families, and staff. In the white paper "Healing, Noise and Norms: Why Nightingale is Still Right and Why it Matters to Chaplains," Susan E. Mazer MA provides an overview of noise-related risks and outcomes, and outlines seven improvement strategies from case studies that have resulted in improved patient outcomes by reducing the negative impact of noise.
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Membership Services Council Report | |
by Floyd O'Bryan BCC
The Membership Services Council (MSC) continues to focus on services for APC members. Its goal is to recruit and retain long-term members. This includes planning the annual conference program, the review and selection of leadership awards, coordinating Special Interest Groups and the mentoring of local and state leaders.
Jeffery Murphy BCC, state representatives coordinator, and Gerald Nussbaum, state membership chairs coordinator, completed a pilot project to improve the process of requesting the $250 funds for state APC functions. Julie Miller, regional/area implementation coordinator, has assembled a task force to explore how we can support collegiality and learning opportunities through regional events.
For the past six years, Valerie Storms has served tirelessly and competently as MSC chair. She resigned from this post, effective Oct. 31, 2010, due to being elected president-elect. I was appointed to fill her unexpired term on Nov. 1, 2010. Because of her skilllful leadership, the MSC has been able to maintain its focus and fulfill its responsibilities during this leadership transition. Valerie, thank you!
"Chaplaincy: Deep in the Heart" was the theme of the 2011 APC Annual Conference held at the Hyatt-Regency DFW Hotel, Dallas, TX on March 24-27. The 2011 Conference Planning Committee, chaired by Margie Atkinson, did an outstanding job of planning and executing the activities of our annual conference. Click on the Past Conference Highlights section of the APC website to view a complete summary of the conference, which includes workshop handouts and much more.
Looking ahead, "Making It Work: Flourishing in Dynamic Systems" is the theme for our 2012 Annual Conference to be held in Schaumburg, IL. The 2012 Planning Committee, chaired by Ted Lindquist, is already busy in planning for our arrival on June 21-24, 2012.
One new initiative that was approved by the APC Board of Directors was the granting of retired life membership status to those retired members who are in good standing at age 80.
The success of the Membership Services Council is attributed to the expertise and dedication of its members. I want to thank Randy Pumphrey and Jeffery Garland for completing their terms of service. I also want to thank Michele Lowery and Teresa McIlwain for joining the MSC. The ongoing dedication of Jeffery Murphy, Gerald Nussbaum, Julie Miller, Alma Hassell, and Alan Tyson is greatly appreciated.
Without these members and without the service of the APC office staff, the MSC could not have successfully completed our work for the APC members this past year.
Rev. Floyd O'Bryan MS BCC is director of the Department of Chaplain Services, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. He serves as Membership Services Council Chair and may be contacted at obryan.floyd@mayo.edu.
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Joint Commission Crosswalk Updated | |
by Stephen King BCC
A revised version of the Joint Commission Review Crosswalk for Chaplain Services document is now available on the APC website under Professional Resources > Reading Room. This crosswalk documents Joint Commission standards and elements of performance for hospitals to which chaplains may contribute to their organization's efforts to address and meet those requirements. The structure of the document has three columns. The specific and pertinent standards and elements of performance are in the left-hand column, the most important column. Some ways chaplains may address or document compliance with the standard or element of performance are located in the middle column. The column on the right is blank for chaplains to document how they do or do not help the organization address the standard or element of performance. Chaplains will not always address these standards and elements of performance in their organizations in the same way or to the same degree. On the other hand, the middle column may stimulate thoughts that lead to a new goal for the chaplaincy department. A limitation of the crosswalk is that it only contains standards for hospitals, not other health care structures/organizations. But hopefully chaplains in other health care settings will benefit and find overlap with this crosswalk.
The most recent revision was in September 2008. Since then, a number of standards or elements of performance have been revised, deleted or added. In particular, I would call your attention to, first, the new elements of performance 28 and 29 under Rights and Responsibilities of the Individual (RI.01.01.01) which insist upon the right of the patient and the patient's desired visitor to be present as long as that individual is not interfering with the care of the patient. These two elements of performance help reduce discrimination against significant others who may not have a "legal" right to be present. Chaplains can help advocate for these individuals, and the importance of their presence and participation in the care of the patient. Second, I would call your attention to the standard PC02.01.21 regarding the patient's right to effective communication with the medical providers. This standard has specific reference to the rights of, for example, those with limited English proficiency. Chaplains can help discern when language is a barrier and advocate for interpreter/translator services (or cultural brokering).
It is anticipated that the revisions to this document will be annual. If there are no new standards or elements of performance, there will at least be a change in the revision date so that you will know that the most recent standards are included. Your feedback is welcomed.
Rev. Stephen D. King PhD BCC is the manager of chaplaincy at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. He serves on the APC Commission on Quality in Pastoral Services as APC liaison to the Joint Commission and may be contacted at sking@seattlecca.org.
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Call for Proposals for 2012 APC Conference | |
The 2012 Conference Workshops Committee invites workshop and poster proposals for our annual conference on June 21-24 at the Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL.
In keeping with the 2012 conference theme, Making It Work: Flourishing in Dynamic Systems, we invite you and interested colleagues to share your special expertise by presenting workshops, Professional Development Intensives and posters that will not only educate but also challenge and stimulate. The proposal submission deadline is July 29, 2011.
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Update on the Work of the Standards, Education and Research Council | |
by Kimberly Murman BCC
Standards
The APC Board of Directors asked the Standards Committee to review two of the Common Standards for Professional Chaplaincy and recommend changes that the board could then discuss with our organizational partner co-authors of the Common Standards.
At first, the Standards Committee was asked to replace standard QUA1 with a new Standard that addresses the intent of Standard QUA1 as a process of accountability. After discussion, the Standards Committee recommended that QUA1 should remain unchanged:"Provide documentation of current endorsement or of good standing in accordance with the requirements of his/her own faith tradition." This recommendation was accepted by the board.
The Standards Committee was also asked to consider rewording standard MNT3 (as a related Standard to QUA1.) MNT3 previously read, "Provide documentation every fifth year of current endorsement or of good standing in accordance with the requirements of his/her own faith tradition." The Professional Standards Committee recommended the following wording to replace the current MNT3 standard, "Provide evidence of continued connection with your faith community for accountability, and nurture of your person and your practice as a professional chaplain." This was also accepted by the board.
In making these recommendations, the Standards Committee desires to: (1) advance the profession of chaplaincy and the accountability of the individual chaplain and (2) be responsive in addressing the concerns and issues our members face in the chaplaincy process of achieving certification and well as maintaining certification.
The Standards Committee is currently working on standards to recommend for the new certification category of associate certified chaplain. Establishing and upholding the highest standards of professional practice which also support the needs of our diverse chaplain population remains our goal as the Standards Committee.
Education
Last year, the Education Committee created subcommittees to accomplish specific tasks and expanded the Education Committee to 16 members to assist in our varied tasks and assignments.
- The Continuing Education Subcommittee completed the revision and clarification of the Continuing Education Guidelines, Annual Summary of Continuing Education Hours form, Frequently Asked Questions and processes relating to continuing education questions coming from APC membership.
- The Webinar Subcommittee had six presentations last year, with an average of 66 participating sites and hundreds of individuals participating in each webinar. They have also recruited eight presentations for 2011.
- Other subcommittees addressed:
- Continuing Education questions and concerns
- Peer Review Maintenance of Membership extensions, questions and concerns
- Liaison committee to our state continuing education chairs throughout APC.
Research
The Webinar Subcommittee has been implementing research opportunities through the George Fitchett and Patricia Murphy "Introduction to Chaplaincy Research" five-part webinar course in which 32 chaplains participated. Beginning in September 2011, Fitchett and Murphy will present a five-part Webinar Journal Club series, "The Role of Religion and Spirituality in Finding Meaning in the Face of Illness and Injury."
Kimberly Murman MDiv MBA BCC is director of spiritual care for Banner Desert Medical Center and Cardon Children's Medical Center in Mesa, AZ. She serves as Standards Education and Research Council chair and may be contacted at kimberly.murman@bannerhealth.com.
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Supporting Veterans and Families: Educational Resources | |
by Jeni Cook
Those of us who have never experienced combat cannot begin to imagine what it does to the body, mind and spirit. Yet, understanding from the community, and perhaps especially a faith community, may be the much needed balm of Gilead for returning troops.
Most current combat troops belong to the National Guard and Reserves. They do not return to a military base replete with ready-made support systems. When their deployment ends, they typically return to their hometowns and are expected to quickly re-integrate into civilian life. They put on their "civilian camouflage" and go unnoticed. Emerging symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and depression also may go unrecognized, may be slow to develop1 and are not addressed until problems become critical. Rural veterans in particular, have limited health care options, especially for mental health care, and may delay seeking help until a crisis makes it unavoidable. Many remain in the Guard or Reserves and anticipate additional combat deployments. They worry that a diagnosis, or even a rumor of mental healthcare treatment, will negatively affect their chances of military career promotion or affect their standing in the community.
VA Offers Free Education to Chaplains and Clergy
One-fourth of individuals who seek help for a mental health problem do so from clergy. In comparison, only 16.7 percent (each) seek help from psychiatrists or primary care doctors.2 Thus, VA chaplains have initiated a Veterans' Community Outreach Initiative (VCOI) program to provide free education and training for community clergy and non-VA chaplains. The program goals include: 1) educating clergy about the readjustment challenges veterans and families face post-deployment, 2) identifying psychological and spiritual effects of war trauma on survivors, 3) considering spiritual and theological issues veterans and families often encounter and appropriate pastoral care interventions, 4) planning a community response to reduce stigma and utilize faith group resources to support veterans and families, and 5) explaining how to refer veterans to VA for health care.
As of May 2011, VA chaplains have hosted over 180 VCOI training events nationwide, networked with over 8,000 members of the clergy, and provided free materials to each. All training events are planned, sponsored and hosted by local VA field chaplains at no cost to participants. Anyone interested in attending an event or cosponsoring one should call the nearest VA medical center and speak with the chief of chaplain service or a permanent chaplain employee. For information about the national database of VCOI events and the overall initiative, feel free to contact me.
Chaplain Jeni Cook DMin is associate director of the Veterans Administration National Chaplain Center. She may be contacted at jeni.cook@va.gov.
1. CS Milliken, JL Auchterlonie, CW Hoge, "Longitudinal Assessment of Mental Health Problems Among Active and Reserve Component Soldiers Returning from the Iraq War," JAMA 298 no. 18 (2007): 2141-2148.
2. PS Wang, PS Berglund, RC Kessler, "Patterns and Correlates of Contacting Clergy for Mental Disorders in the United States," Health Services Research 38 no. 2 (2003): 647-673.
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Upcoming APC Professional Chaplaincy Webinars | |
July 28 - We are the Medicine: Assessing and Healing Spiritual Pain, presented by Richard F. Groves, co-founder of the Sacred Art of Living Center in Bend, OR. Register by July 19.
While suffering can take a heavy toll on a person, paradoxically it also has a unique capacity to transform. Geared toward professional chaplains and other caregivers in hospice, palliative care and other settings, this interactive webinar will include stories of transformation that demonstrate important insights into the remarkable power of the human psyche for healing in the face of pain and crisis.
August 19 - The Potter's Wheel: The Transfomative Power of the Incarcerated Experience, presented by Shiela Campbell BCC. Register by August 10.
September 13 - Improving Care for Sexual & Gender-identity Minorities, presented by David Kozishek MA BCC. Register by September 2.
October 14 - From Student to Professional Chaplain: Navigating the Board Certification Process, presented by Robert L. Grigsby BCC, Joseph Perez BCC and Richard Donoughue BCC. Register by October 5.
November 15 - Viktor Frankl's Logotherapy: An Approach to Finding Meaning in Spite of Suffering, presented by Robert R. Hutzell PhD. Register by November 4.
For complete descriptions and to register, visit the APC store.
Information and registration available soon for the following webinars:
December 8 - Discovering Worldview through Narrative in Ethics Case Consultation, presented by George Flanagan BCC.
Webinar Journal Club - Finding Meaning in Illness, Injury, and Loss: The Role of Religion and Spirituality, presented by George Fitchett PhD BCC and Sr. Patricia Murphy PhD BCC. This APC-sponsored series will be presented as five bimonthly 60-minute webinar sessions. The series is designed to help chaplains with no prior experience learn to read and understand research. It will also introduce research-literate chaplains to important research about meaning-making in the face of illness. While there is a common theme for all the articles to be discussed in the series, each session will be complete in itself, so participants may register for one, several or all sessions, which will be held on Tuesdays September 20, November 8, January 10, March 6 and May 8 at 1-2 p.m. Central.
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Call for Circle of Life Award Nominations for Palliative/End-of-Life Care | |
The Circle of Life Award: Celebrating Innovation in Palliative and End-of-Life Care is presented annually to honor organizations striving to improve the care provided to patients with life-threatening conditions or near the end of life. In 2012, up to three organizations will win Circle of Life Awards; additional organizations may receive Citations of Honor. Awards and citations will be presented at the American Hospital Association (AHA) Health Forum Summit, July 19-21, 2012, in San Francisco, CA.
Visit the AHA website for information about nominating an organization or program (either your own or another) and for the application. All organizations or groups in the U.S. that provide palliative or end-of-life care are eligible for the award. Applications are due August 8, 2011.
Major sponsors for the Circle of Life Award are AHA, the Catholic Health Association, National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care, and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization & National Hospice Foundation; the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and the National Association of Social Workers are cosponsors. The awards are supported, in part, by grants from the Archstone Foundation and the California HealthCare Foundation.
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History Corner | |
Featuring historical news briefs, significant facts and interesting trivia from the pastoral care past, brought to you by the APC History Committee. In the words of Alphonse de Lamartine, "History teaches everything, including the future."
On September 27, 1946, during the annual meeting of the American Protestant Hospital Association (APHA), 19 chaplains met together at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. Naming themselves the Association of Protestant Hospital Chaplains (APHC, also known as "the "Chaplains Association"), they drew up their own constitution and elected the following officers: President, Russell Dicks; Vice-President, Robert Morris; Secretary-Treasurer, Leicester Potter; Chaplain, Granger Westburg, and Member-at-Large, Carl Scherzer.
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