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Chaplaincy Services

    Featured Image for Spiritual Care Center

    Our chaplains provide emotional and spiritual support for patients, families and staff of all faiths and cultures. Our chaplains respect your dignity and privacy and do not impose religious beliefs or practices. They are caring listeners. You set the agenda and determine the depth of any conversation you have.

    The mission of the Chaplaincy Services Department is to help people to draw on their spiritual resources to move toward hope, healing and wholeness.

    In carrying out our mission, the Chaplaincy Services staff pledges:

    • To promote holistic care for patients, families and staff
    • To advocate for dignity and respect for all
    • To increase awareness of the role of spiritual values in patient care by being an essential and integrated part of the care team

    Chaplaincy Services is present at Akron Children's to serve the patients, families and staff who spend time in our facilities.  Having a child in the hospital can be a traumatic experience for any child and family. Our experienced spiritual care staff is here to offer spiritual guidance and emotional support. This is done by affirming the dignity and worth of every patient, family member and employee. The Chaplaincy Services Program exists in a multi-cultural and religiously diverse institution and respects and advocates the rights of each individual. Witness to the sacred texts is expressed in holistic ministry to the emotional and spiritual needs of all persons serving or being served by Children’s Hospital. Chaplaincy Services staff recognizes and responds to the interrelatedness of the whole person. Through caring presence during significant moments, the dignity of the human person and the sacredness of the gift of human life are affirmed.

    Providing spiritual care

    We define spiritual care as the service which assists people in making connections to whatever sustains them spiritually (values and beliefs), and to help them find meaning in the experience of crises, whether or not they are part of a particular religion. Where religion is present, spiritual care seeks to help people experience, as fully as possible, the reality of God’s presence and love in their lives.

    Our chaplains are available to serve you when you:

    • Are anxious about your child’s condition
    • Are anticipating surgery
    • Receive bad news
    • Are facing difficult decisions
    • Have a religious question
    • Want to pray with someone
    • Want to receive a sacrament or other religious rites
    • Are struggling with the meaning of illness
    • Are grieving a loss
    • Are having trouble sorting out feelings
    • Are feeling lonely

    Our chaplains are available 24 hours a day, and anyone may request a visit from one of them. Call for more information:

    Akron campus: call 330-543-8254, or dial 0 for the on-call chaplain 24 hours a day.

    Mahoning Valley Campus: call 330-746-8667, or dial 0 for the on-call chaplain 24 hours a day.

    Chaplaincy Services offers a variety of pre-recorded religious events for our patients, families and anyone else who would like to view these programs.

    The hospital Chaplain is a clinically trained healthcare specialist who provides spiritual care to patients, their families and the hospital staff. Spiritual care is concerned with the needs of the whole person. The Chaplain works as a member of the multidisciplinary team to provide the best possible holistic patient care. Chaplains are concerned primarily with individuals’ emotional and spiritual needs during their hospitalization or healthcare crisis. Primary tasks of spiritual care:

    • Help individuals draw on their own spiritual resources to help
      • Heal the body
      • Promote peace of mind 
      • Establish emotional stability.

    The Chaplain thus provides a dynamic resource for healing and for wholeness by helping to address the individual’s innermost spiritual needs. The Chaplain promotes no religion or faith, but rather is supportive of everyone’s faith pilgrimage. The Chaplain offers the highest degree of confidentiality.

    Prayer Requests

    Prayer books are located in the Spiritual Care Center and Meditation Room at Akron Campus.  Prayers may also be requested by using a prayer line:

    Akron campus: 330-543-3446

    Mahoning Valley: 330-746-8737
     

    Materials

    Prayer books, sacred texts, prayer shawls, devotional aids and brochures are available in the chaplains' office and in the sacred spaces. You may call the office at 330-543-8254 to request these materials be brought to you. 
     

    Meditation

     

    Coping with Anxiety and Stress 

    Practicing Self-Compassion

    Being Compassionate to Others

    Guided Meditation for Kids

     

    Prayers


    Labyrinths

    Labyrinths are tools used by many cultures and religions throughout history.  Their purpose is to further those looking to bring more spirituality, emotional, psychological and physical well-being into their lives. A labyrinth has a single, winding, unobstructed path from the outside to the center, unlike a maze which has many dead ends and wrong choices designed to trick the mind. Therefore, the labyrinth is often seen as a metaphor for our spiritual 'life' journey -- many twists and turns but no dead ends.  We always have the opportunity to make another choice in life or 'turn' in the labyrinth.  Some frequent users call the experience a meditation in motion, fusing movements and inner calm.  Concentrating only on the course before you, your pace slows, your breathing deepens and your mind becomes clearer as you let go of stress.

    Click here to view an example of a labyrinth. From the outside opening at the bottom to the center, move at whatever pace feels right for you. As you do so, you may opt to:

    •  Quiet your mind
    •  Pray for yourself or someone else
    •  Keep a question in mind and feel the questions using your emotions

    At the center, pause and take several slow deep breaths.   Here, many believe you are the closest to the center of your spirit and greater insight is available.  When ready to leave the center or you feel satisfied (like after eating a good meal), retrace the path back out to the entrance (which now becomes the exit point). Upon leaving the labyrinth, be grateful and thankful for the opportunity to bring divine strength and insight back with you into your daily life.
     

    Additional Resources

    Related Resources

    Sacred Space

    Spaces are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for quiet prayer and meditation for all.

    Akron Campus Spiritual Care Center:

    • Located on the third floor of the Akron campus, in zone 3600 across from the orange elevators, the Spiritual Care Center comprises a sanctuary, two private prayer and meditation spaces, and a study with an interfaith multicultural lending library. 

    Akron Campus Meditation Room:

    • The Meditation Room is location on the third floor of the Kay Jewelers Pavilion near the information desk and the entrance to the Exchange Street parking deck.   It is open at all times for prayer and meditation to all people. 
    • Private space for Muslim prayer is available in the Meditation Room.

    Mahoning Valley Campus:

    • The Thomas H. Kennedy Memorial Chapel is located on the first floor lobby of Building D, room D1757, beside the restrooms. 
    • Private space for Muslim prayer is available in the Thomas H. Kennedy Memorial Chapel.

    Matthew Tweddle

    Director, Chaplaincy Services; Supports: Hematology/Oncology (5600)

    Sean Drumond

    Staff Chaplain, Beegly/Mahoning Valley Campus

    Thomas Bodie

    Chaplain
    Behavioral Health Inpatient (8100/8200)

    Monica Coon-Anda

    Chaplain; Supports: NICU, 6100, Burn Unit (3600), 7200)

    John Morgan

    Chaplain
    ED/Traumas, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (4600), Adolescent/Teens CF (6200), Transitional Care Unit (7100), Transport

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