BeaconNews from HealthCare Chaplaincy

The

$1.5 Million for Six Project

Grants Awarded to Advance the

Field of Chaplaincy Research in

Palliative Care

Two Palliative Care Experts

Join HealthCare Chaplaincy

to Lead Its Research and

Education Programs

In July HealthCare Chaplaincyawarded research grants to sixrecipients to identify and explore

hypotheses about chaplains’ contri-butions to palliative care.

These projects will also begin to builda community of researchers, includingprofessional chaplains, to grow thefield of research on spiritual care inpalliative care.

The John Templeton Foundation hasfunded these grants, which are thelargest in size and scope forprofessional chaplaincy, in partnershipwith HealthCare Chaplaincy.

72 proposals were submitted frominstitutions throughout North America,demonstrating significant interest infurthering professional health carechaplaincy as an evidence-basedclinical field.

The grant recipients are:

1. Dana Farber Cancer Institute(Boston) for “Hospital Chaplaincy andMedical Outcomes at the End of Life.”Project director is Tracy Balboni, M.D.

Project chaplain is Angelika Zollfrank,BCC.

2. University of California, SanFrancisco for “Spiritual Assessmentand Intervention Model (AIM) inOutpatient Palliative Care for Patientswith Advanced Cancer.” Projectdirector is Laura Dunn, M.D. Projectchaplain is Allison Kestenbaum, BCC.

3. Children’s Mercy Hospital (KansasCity) for “Understanding PediatricChaplaincy in Crisis Situations.”Project director is John Lantos, M.D.Project chaplain is Dane Sommer,BCC.

4. Advocate Charitable Foundation& Advocate Health Care (Chicago)for “’What do I do’ – Developing aTaxonomy of Chaplaincy Activitiesand Interventions for Spiritual Care inICU Palliative Care.” Project director isKevin Massey, BCC. Co-principalinvestigator is William Summerfelt,Ph.D.

5. Emory University (Atlanta) for“Impact of Hospital-Based Chaplain

Vol. 37 No. 2 /Fall 2012

HealthCare Chaplaincy has greatlyincreased its commitment to researchand education with the appointment of

Linda Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D., as senior vicepresident for research and education, and RichardA. “Tony” Powell as deputy director for research.

Linda Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Emanuel is also co-principal investigator of the“Growing the Field ofChaplaincy Research inPalliative Care” project,funded by the JohnTempleton Foundation andmanaged by HealthCareChaplaincy. It is the largestresearch project everinitiated in the field ofprofessional chaplaincy.

Dr. Emanuel is Buehler Professor of GeriatricMedicine and Director of the Buehler Center onAging, Health and Society at NorthwesternUniversity, Feinberg School of Medicine. She alsoteaches at Northwestern’s prestigious KelloggSchool of Management with a focus onorganizational ethics and economic resilience forhouseholds dealing with a serious illness.

Prior to joining Northwestern, Dr. Emanuel wasvice president of Ethics Standards and Head ofthe Institute for Ethics at the American MedicalAssociation. She serves as a principal investigatorof multiple National Institute of Health and nationalfoundation grants, including one funded by theAmerican Cancer Society to evaluate the impactof a comprehensive palliative care assessmentand implementation guide.

C o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 4 C o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 6

On September 4th, the Baruch College-Rubin Museum of Art Project hostedthe creation of a sand mandala by a

group of Tibetan monks from the NamdrolingMonastery in South India. Part of the artistictradition of Tibetan Buddhism, the sandmandala is one of the most beautiful art forms,created by placing millions of grains of brightlycolored sand into a sacred symbolic design.

A panel discussion on the theme of mandalasin people’s lives accompanied the constructionof the mandala.

The panel consisted of a Tibetan monk andprofessor of Buddhist studies; the chief curatorat the Rubin Museum of Art; a professor ofmathematical logic; and HealthCareChaplaincy’s Judy Seicho Fleischman, staffchaplain at Hospital for Special Surgery.

Chaplain Fleischman brings to the topic uniquecredentials. Besides being a Zen Buddhistpriest, she is a board certified chaplain whoholds a bachelors degree in physics fromM.I.T., a Master of Science degree in physicsfrom the University of Massachusetts atAmherst, and a Master of Science degree inastronomy from Columbia University.

She spoke of the mandala form in terms ofpeople’s diverse experiences of spirituality.

Chaplain Fleischman likened a mandala to theunique expressions of meaning that a personvoices in a chaplain’s presence. She namedhow in that process a chaplain helps a personto experience healing as being whole in themidst of whatever is happening. At the sametime, she said, that act of healing expressesour interdependence and thus transforms usindividually and collectively.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of theconstruction of a mandala, to a Western way ofthinking, is its destruction after it is completed.

As chaplain Fleischman explained, “Themandala is ‘destroyed,’ so to speak, becauseit is expressing impermanence beingcontinuous transformation. From oneperspective, whatever is constructed iseventually destroyed. From another, this“whatever” is transforming itself moment bymoment.

“The manda la ’sintricate patterns anddifferent colors ofsand are brushedtogether to becomeone shade of sand,s a i d c h a p l a i nFle ischman. “Thesand is placed in avessel and eventuallysprinkled into a

flowing body of water. This act marks thecompletion of the practice of mandala. Thewhole process is deeply moving for it revealsa sense of wonderment in the ceaseless cycleof constant change.” �

2 The Beacon

News Briefs

For the first time an HCC research paperhas been accepted by a mainline medicaljournal. In June 2012 BioMed Central choseto publish “A National Study of ChaplaincyServices and End-of-Life Outcomes” which

was the result of a Fannie E. RippelFoundation-funded study on the relationshipbetween chaplaincy care at hospitals and therate of referrals to hospice care, as well as thenumber of persons who died in hospital (asopposed to home or in hospice).

This study of 3500 hospitals across the U.S.

found importantly that those with chaplaincyservices had statistically fewer deaths inhospital and more referrals to hospice servicesthan did hospitals without chaplaincy services.

Co-authors of the paper were Dr. LindaEmmanuel, Dr. Kevin Flannelly, and the Rev.George Handzo.

Sister Rosar ine Quinn, New York

Hospital Queens

Sister Rosarine Quinn (Sisters of St.Joseph) joined HealthCare Chaplaincy asa Staff Chaplain in 1998 and has workedat New York Hospital Queens since thattime. She is taking a well deserved retire-ment but will be continuing her vocationwith her order.

“I will always be grateful to the Chaplaincy,” said SisterRosarine, “for the excellent clinical pastoral education programthat was offered to me and the many collegial bonds I have.”

Chaplain Eileen Pesek, Beth Israel Medical Center

Chaplain Eileen Pesek joined HCC as director of pastoral careat Beth Israel Medical Center in 2009. She is retiring to spend

more time with her grandchildren. “Ihave thoroughly enjoyed being part ofHealthCare Chaplaincy and havebeen enriched by all my colleagues,”said Chaplain Pesek. “The support,education and research updatesreceived from HCC have been out-standing and make us well-informedprofessionals. I look forward to thisnew transition with my husband, Bill,our children, and seven grandchil-dren. God bless you and keep upyour outstanding ministry.”

The staff and trustees of HealthCare Chaplaincy wish SisterRosarine and Eileen much success and happiness in the nextstage of their lives and careers.

A Tibetan Buddhist Sand Mandala Teaches

About Spirituality and Chaplaincy

Retirements

Chaplain Judy Fleischman

3 The Beacon

On April 30th, theDominican FriarsH e a l t h C a r e

Ministry of New York andthe Pontifical Faculty ofT h e o l o g y o f t h eImmaculate Conceptionhonored Sister ElaineGoodell with the SaintCatherine of Siena Award.Sr. Elaine has served as achaplain at MemorialSloan-Kettering CancerCenter for 27 years. Sheis known throughout themedical community forher compassion andselfless dedication to thepatients and staff.

On May 27th, well-wishers gathered at theC h u rc h o f S a i n tIgnat ius Loyola toattend a Mass ofT h a n k s g i v i n gcelebrated by the Rev.Dr. Walter J. Smith,S.J., president andCEO of HealthCareC h a p l a i n c y , t ocommemora te 50years of service as aJesuit and 40 years ofpr iest ly min is t ry. Inkeep ing w i th themul t i fa i th nature ofHealthCare Chaplaincy,the clergy and guests in

attendance encompassed many faiths.

On October7 t h , S i s t e rM a r g a r e tO e t t i n g e rcelebrated herG o l d e nJ u b i l e e o fR e l i g i o u sP r o f e s s i o nwith a massand reception.Sr. Oettinger isaffiliated withthe DominicanS i s t e r s o fSparkill. �

Fact: In 2012, more U.S. soldiers have died by committing

suicide than died in combat.

Fact: There is currently one suicide a day in the military.

Fact: 300,000 individuals currently suffer from Post Traumatic

Stress Disorder (PTSD) or major depression as a result of

deployment and combat.

More than two million of our military men and women have goneoff to war in recent years. Now many are coming home. Only“home” isn’t the same anymore. Home used to mean com-

fort, security, safety, familiarity. Now, for many returning veterans, itmeans uncertainty, stressfulness, strained relationships and feelings ofalienation. Trading the structure, order and camaraderie of military life forthose of family and work is often overwhelming. And the scars of com-bat are frequently below the surface.

At HealthCare Chaplaincy we believe that because of the military’sintegration of chaplaincy into daily military life, the men and women of themilitary have trust in chaplains, and that chaplains can continue to play asupporting role to veterans.

We continue to pursue ways to help. We’ve collaborated with the U.S.Navy to develop The Handbook on Best Practices for the Provision of

Spiritual Care to Persons with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and

Traumatic Brain Injury. The handbook is available on the home page of theHealthCare Chaplaincy website www.healthcarechaplaincy.org.

“Pathways Home” Seminar

On September 11th, 2012, the Pastoral Care Department atHealthCare Chaplaincy partner institution St. John’s RiversideHospital in Yonkers, NY hosted an informative and interactive seminar

geared to members of the clergy and family members of returningveterans. The seminar topics included:

� “Work and Family Challenges for the Returning Veteran,” byLieutenant Colonel John P. Eddy, 439th Medical Battalion, Joint BaseMcGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ

� “Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome/Traumatic Brain Injury,” by the Rev.George Handzo, BCC, senior consultant, chaplaincy care leadership& practice, HealthCare Chaplaincy, and co-author of the U.S. Navy’s“Spiritual Care Handbook on PTSD/TBI”

� “Creating Welcoming Congregations,” by Glen Milstein, Ph.D., CUNYprofessor, researcher, and author on current issues of returningveterans

� “What Resources are Available to our Local Veterans and TheirFamilies,” by Frank Laudato, St. John’s Riverside Hospital’s directorof military health services

The seminar was organized and presented by HealthCare Chaplaincy’sstaff at St. John’s Riverside – the Rev. Sarah Fogg, Ph.D., BCC, directorof pastoral care, and chaplain Osvaldo Tañon, Association of ClinicalPastoral Education associate supervisor, staff chaplain and captain in theUnited States Army Reserve.

Those who attended this packed event came away with a deeperunderstanding of the scope of the problem, and how to help those whofought so hard and gave so much, to truly come home. �

Three Honored for Length of Service and Commitment

Helping Returning Veterans

To Truly Come Home

Shown here with

Jess Geevarghese

of HCC

Italian chef extraordinaire Lidia Bastianich and celebrity cakedesigner Sylvia Weinstock have generously donated for two auctionspecial experiences to support HealthCare Chaplaincy’s vital work.

One winning bidder will host a dinner for ten with a menu designed byLidia and paired with the award-winning Bastianich wines at heracclaimed New York City restaurant Felidia.

Sylvia will create for the other winning bidder a special occasion cakethat can serve fifty people.

The bid for the Felidia dinner starts at $10,000, and $1,500 for Sylvia’sspecial occasion cake. Details and the bid page are available at HCChomepage: www.healthcarechaplaincy.org. For questions or to placea bid by phone/email: contact Carl Marucci at 212-644-1111,ext. 133, or cmarucci@healthcarechaplaincy.org.

Please tell your friends about these special experiences offered tobenefit HealthCare Chaplaincy. Or if you’d like, bid! And checkwww.healthcarechaplaincy.org daily to learn the latest highest bid.Bidding closes on November 14, 2012 at noon. �

4 The Beacon

Support on Decision-Making During Serious Illness in a Diverse UrbanPalliative Care Population.” Project director is Tammie Quest, M.D.Project chaplain is George Grant, ACPE Supervisor.

6. Duke University Medical Center (Durham, NC) for “CaregiverOutlook: An Evidence-Based Intervention for the Chaplain Toolkit.”Project director is Karen Steinhauser, Ph.D. Project chaplain is AnnetteOlsen, BCC.

The proposal review committee of international experts agreed that theproposals for these six projects have met the highest standards ofscientific inquiry and relevancy to the goal of building the field ofprofessional chaplaincy research.

September Symposium brings grantees together

A second objective of this unprecedented research project is to buildand foster a community of professionals who are knowledgeable andliterate in chaplaincy research.

Towards that end HealthCare Chaplaincy convened the “Growing theField Symposium,” to bring together project grantees and faculty inmid-September at Baruch College in Manhattan. Each faculty memberpresented a paper on research methods or another pertinent topic,and each of the grantee teams briefed on its project.

Leading the overall research effort are co-principal investigators LindaEmanuel, M.D., Ph.D., HealthCare Chaplaincy’s senior vice presidentfor research and education, as well as director of the Buehler Center forAging at Northwestern University, and the Rev. George Handzo, BCC,HealthCare Chaplaincy’s senior consultant on chaplaincy care. Thisproject builds on decades of work that Dr. Emanuel has led in palliativecare training and quality and cost issues around end of life care. TheRev. Handzo has been with HealthCare Chaplaincy for nearly 35 yearsas a professional chaplain and national leader in chaplaincy care.

Enthusiasm for the symposium ran high, as evidenced by these typicalcomments by the attendees afterwards:

“You really made your goal of a ‘learning community’ true.”

“I have a better idea of what to focus on in future projects. Great tomeet all the leaders in the field.”

“Very helpful to be with this group of chaplains, researchers and faculty.Life changing meeting.”

Project progress reports will post periodically at www.healthcare-chaplaincy.org. �

C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1>$1.5 Million for Six Project Grants Awarded to Advance the Field ofChaplaincy Research in Palliative Care

Please Spread the Word! Lidia Bastianich and Sylvia WeinstockOffer Two Extraordinary Holiday Gifts

Black TieMandarin Oriental, New York80 Columbus Circle at 60th Street, New York, NY

Even a cursory reading of thisissue of The Beacon willbolster the notion that

spirituality is gaining importance inboth research and in the wayscomprehensive health care is beingprovided to patients.

I f know ledge i s shaped byexperience, those of us who havebeen patients in hospitals will readilyagree that the focus in medical care

today has shifted to higher technology and evidence-basedpractices, which reduce the level of the interpersonal interactionswe have with those who care for us. Paradoxically, it is oftenthrough these human encounters that we come to terms with thecritical life questions that accompany illness and disability andcontribute to the suffering and distress that can impede healing.And yet, there are fewer skilled caregivers who are prepared tohear, understand or respond.

One of the Chaplaincy’s current research collaborators, radiationoncologist Dr. Tracy Ann Balboni has reported that almost half ofthe hospitalized people she and her colleagues surveyed said thattheir spiritual needs were minimally or not at all met by their religiouscommunities and nearly three-quarters further noted that thesesame needs were not understood or met by the interdisciplinary

medical team that was caring for them. We have some seriouswork ahead of us.

For all the progress that professional chaplains have made overthe past decade in becoming better integrated into the healthcareteam, we have been slower to subject our practice to the kind ofoutcomes-oriented research that is normative in all other areas ofhealth care. Nonetheless, chaplains recognize the need tobecome more actively engaged in research that will test andstrengthen their clinical skills. Through years of actual practice,chaplains know that people feel better when they speak abouttheir concerns and spiritual beliefs. Yet, one can fine comb theclinical literature and scarcely find a single peer-reviewed study inwhich “evidence-based chaplaincy care” is cited.

This is the world of scientific inquiry into which HealthCareChaplaincy has boldly entered and, with the support of friends likethe John Templeton Foundation and the many colleagues aroundthe country who are joining us in these new chaplaincy researchinitiatives, we are confident that we will help to advance both thescience and evidence-based practice of spiritual care. �

5 The Beacon

The Reverend Canon Denise G. Haines,who created innovative clinical pastoraleducation (CPE) programs at HealthCare

Chaplaincy and elsewhere, and who taught andsupervised many of today’s leading clinicalpastoral educators, died on Oct. 8th, in Summit,New Jersey, after a long and valiant fight againstcancer. She was 73.

As HCC’s director of clinical pastoral education adecade ago, Denise oversaw the successfuldesign and execution of a complex accreditationreview of the Chaplaincy’s extensive clinicalpastoral education program by the Association forClinical Pastoral Education as well as thestrengthening of HCC’s supervisory educationcurricula.

Denise was truly a pioneer in everything she did;she was one of the first women ordained to thepriesthood in the Episcopal Church in the UnitedStates. As archdeacon to the bishop for missions

and urban ministries for the diocese of Newark,Denise was a tireless advocate for under-servedcommunities. She was a principal in developinglow-income housing in the diocese. She alsoestablished partnerships with Anglicancommunities in Southern Africa, educating clergyin clinical pastoral care for people living withHIV/AIDS.

After Denise’s retirement from HealthCareChaplaincy, she returned to Calvary EpiscopalChurch in Summit as an associate, where she hadbeen elected to the vestry in 1970, being the firstwoman to serve in that position.

In 2011 the Association for Clinical PastoralEducation, in which she held regional and nationalleadership positions, honored Denise with itsDistinguished Service Award.

Denise is survived by three children and sixgrandchildren. May her noble soul be at rest. �

The Rev. Dr. Walter J. Smith, S.J.President & CEO

A M

essag

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the R

ev. Dr. W

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ifting the Spirit“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.” (Source: Archstone Foundation 2009 consensus conference)

In Memoriam: The Reverend Canon Denise G. Haines

6 The Beacon

Dr. Emanuel was the founder and principal of the groundbreakingEducation in Palliative and End-of-Life Care project. Thanks to thisproject thousands of health care professionals in the U.S. and 16 othercountries have learned palliative care skills and competencies.

Dr. Emanuel was trained at Cambridge University, University CollegeLondon, Oxford University, Harvard Medical School and HarvardUniversity. She is a board-certified general internist with fellowshiptraining in public health research methodology and fellowship trainingin professional ethics.

She has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles in academicjournals.

In 2011, she became the first recipient of HealthCare Chaplaincy’sPioneer Medal for Outstanding Leadership in Health Care.

Commenting on her appointment, Dr. Emanuel said, “As palliative carehas become a full-bodied discipline, respected among others inmedicine, the satisfaction of this wonderful development has beenhampered by the diminished attention given to spirituality in palliativecare. The field's founder, Dame Cecily Saunders, was entirely clearthat spirituality was a domain as important as the social, psychological,and physical realms. Working with HealthCare Chaplaincy and itscolleagues from far and wide to help bring robustness to the field is aprivilege and a culminating development for me.”

Richard A. “Tony” Powell

Most recently Mr. Powell served as the director of learning and researchat the African Palliative Care Association, in Kampala, Uganda, wherehe was based for eight years. He founded the African Palliative CareResearch Network, bringing together researchers from Europe andNorth America to build the nascent field in the continent. Lately he hasbeen involved in projects that have included the evaluation of a healthintervention for young carers of people with HIV/AIDS, an internationalsurvey of the availability and accessibility of opioids for the managementof cancer, and a determination of end-of-life priorities and preferencesin rural and urban Namibia.

A referee and associate editor for a number ofacademic journals, Mr. Powell has heldnumerous research positions, including:

� Co-chair of the European Association ofPalliative Care’s Task Force on PalliativeCare in Africa

� Member of the World Health OrganizationWorking Group reviewing its definition ofpalliative care

� Member of the Steering Committee,International Palliative Care Family CareResearch Collaboration

� Member of the Research Committee of the International Children’sPalliative Care Network.

Mr. Powell has written, edited or contributed to more than 200published works and presentations.

He holds a B.S. degree in sociology from the University of Nottingham,UK, and an M.S. in applied population research as well as a Master ofScience degree in health care – professional issues, both from theUniversity of Exeter, UK.

Remarking on his new role, Mr. Powell said: “For too long spiritualityhas been the Cinderella of the palliative care movement, despite thedistress many encounter – irrespective of their religious denominationor secular orientation – in the domain and which can exert asecondary impact upon other critical spheres in one’s life (socially,psychologically and physically). However, the evidence basedemonstrating the beneficial impact of spiritual interventions, andspecifically chaplaincy work, is currently lacking. As such, I’mdelighted to be joining HealthCare Chaplaincy, the nationallyrecognized voice advancing the chaplaincy and palliative careagenda, to help address this shortfall in our knowledge andunderstanding, and to share the insights and lessons learnt from theNorth American setting with a global audience.” �

C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1

>Two Palliative Care Experts Join HealthCare Chaplaincy to Lead ItsResearch and Education Programs

Come Learn about HealthCare Chaplaincy in Just One Hour!

Twice monthly HealthCare Chaplaincy hosts one-hour, early morning information sessions to provide a firsthand

experience of HCC’s mission and accomplishments. We share who we are and what we do by telling a few stories

about our work and our chaplains. Each session runs from 8:30 am to 9:30 am at the HealthCare Chaplaincy building

located at 307 East 60th

Street near the corner of 2nd

Avenue. Upcoming session dates are:

We would love to have you join us at one of these sessions! To learn more, please contact Michelle Nicholas at

mnicholas@healthcarechaplaincy.org or 212.644.1111 x135.

� A Note to Our Friends

� November 28

� December 12

� January 16 and 30

� February 20

� March 6 and 20

� April 11 and 24

� May 22

� June 5 and 19

Wellington Chen is exec-utive director of theChinatown Partnership,responsible for its overalldirection, includingstrategic planning, set-ting policy, and servingas the organization’spublic representative.

He was the first Asian-American to serve as acommissioner on the New York City Board ofStandards and Appeals. Mr Chen is anarchitect by training, having worked for I.M.Pei from 1980 to 1985. He has been amember of Community Board 7Q for 13years and sits on a number of other boardsincluding the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Born in Taiwan, Mr. Chen grew up inSingapore, Hong Kong and Brazil.

Lawrence R. Tancredi,M.D., J.D., a psychia-trist-lawyer, is clinicalprofessor of psychiatryat New York UniversitySchool of Medicine.He is the author or co-author of numerousarticles as well as sev-

eral books on topics in law, ethics andpsychiatry. His most recent book isHardwired Behavior: What Neuroscience

Reveals About Morality. He has a privatepractice in New York City and works as aforensic psychiatric consultant. Dr.Tancredi received his M.D. from theUniversity of Pennsylvania School ofMedicine and his J.D. from Yale UniversitySchool of Law.

Daniel Goldin, M.D., isclinical assistant profes-sor of medicine, WeillMedical College ofCornell University, andassistant attendingphysician, New YorkPresbyterian Hospital.He is also consultant in

internal medicine at Hospital for SpecialSurgery. He also has a private practice thathas a real commitment to holistic care ofpatients. In 2011, Dr. Goldin was elected toFellowship in the American College ofPhysicians (F.A.C.P.). He received hisB.A. from Princeton University, his pre-medcertification from Columbia University andhis M.D. from Cornell University. He is theson of former trustee Diana Goldin.

7 The Beacon

ProfilesNew Members of Our Board of Directors

New StaffElizabeth Baine has been appointed staff chaplainat Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, fol-lowing considerable volunteer work as teamchaplain for the Pain and Palliative Care Servicemember of the hospital’s Bereavement and FamilyFocused Therapy Clinics. Ms. Bain completedfour CPE units at HCC and earned her M.A. in

Pastoral Counseling and Spiritual Care from Fordham University.

Gary E. Myers, Ph.D., M.Div., is deputy director,continuing and professional studies. Dr. Myers, amember of the adjunct faculty at Drew TheologicalSchool, was previously executive director andtherapist of the Grace Counseling Center inMadison, NJ. He has been associate professor inthe department of medical humanities and psy-chiatry at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and a psy-chotherapy supervisor in the department of psychiatry. An ordainedelder in the United Methodist Church and a Diplomate of theAmerican Association of Pastoral Counselors. Dr. Myers receivedhis Ph.D. in theology and personality studies from Emory University.

Michelle A. Nicholas is manager, annual fund anddonor relations. Ms. Nicholas joins us from theSamuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundationwhere she was the development manager. Prior tothat she was the new business development officerfor the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. She spent a numberof years in banking and international trade before

transferring her skills to the nonprofit world. Ms. Nicholas received anassociate degree in social work and a B.S. in economics from theUniversity of Guyana as well as certificates in project managementand diplomatic practices from the Economic Commission for Latin-America and the Caribbean and the Rio Blanco Institute respectively.

The Rev. Amy Strano is registrar and admissionsofficer for clinical pastoral education. Previously atthe Heart and Soul Charitable fund she was thevolunteer development and events manager whilealso working as the program manager forWomensphere. She received her B.A. degreefrom Mount Holyoke College and a M.Div. from

Union Theological Seminary. The Rev. Strano serves as a minister ofthe Original Blessing Unitarian Universalist congregation in Brooklyn.She received her clinical pastoral education training throughHealthCare Chaplaincy.

Valerie Coburn-Lichtenstein is executive assistantto HCC’s senior vice president and COO ClaireHaaga Altman. Previously she worked at theOprah Winfrey Network, Americas Rabobank andthe United Synagogue of Conservative Judaismwhere she worked directly for the chief executiveofficer and the executive vice president. Ms.Coburn-Lichtenstein received her B.S. degree from PennsylvaniaState University.

Michael Appeadu is HCC’s third annual post-graduate fellow from the Dartmouth Partners inCommunity Service, funded by the MilbankFoundation for Rehabilitation. As a sociologymajor and pre-medicine student, Mr. Appeadubecame interested in the social side of medicine,studying the U.S. health care system while at

Dartmouth and the Danish health care model while on an exchangeprogram at the University of Copenhagen. At Dartmouth he chaireda group called CAPS (Cancer and Patient Services) in which hespent weekends helping cancer patients, recovering fromchemotherapy, with physically challenging tasks at their homes.

Vol. 37 No. 2 / The Beacon Fall 2012

HealthCare Chaplaincy is the leader in the research, education and

practice of multifaith spiritual care including palliative care, which relieves

suffering and improves quality of life. We provide professional chaplaincy

services—one of the most cost-effective resources to increase patient

satisfaction—in major metro New York hospitals and long-term care

facilities. Since 1961 we have helped close to 6 million patients, loved

ones and hospital staff find meaning and comfort – whatever their beliefs,

values or culture. We are developing the National Center for Palliative

Care Innovation, including an enhanced assisted living residence.

Non-Profit Org.

U.S. Postage

PAIDRochester, NY

Permit No. 491

307 East 60th StreetNew York, NY 10022-1505Phone: (212) 644-1111 Fax: (212) 486-1440healthcarechaplaincy.org

Managing Editor: Bernie Rosner

Director of Creative Services: Brian H. Kim

Director of Marketing & Communications: Jim Siegel

(212) 644-1111, ext.141/ jsiegel@healthcarechaplaincy.org

Visit us online at healthcarechaplaincy.org

Follow us on at http://twitter.com/MeaningComfort

8 The Beacon

© 2012, HealthCare Chaplaincy

Friends and colleagues filled the sanctuary of Saint Peter’sChurch on May 8th to attend HealthCare Chaplaincy’s annualconvocation.

Honored with the Pioneer Medal were Edmund D. Pellegrino, M.D.,M.A.C.P., one of the founders of medical bioethics, former president ofthe Catholic University of America and former dean of the school ofmedicine at Stony Brook University, and Stephen G. Post, Ph. D.,director for the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Careand Bioethics, Stony Brook University.

HealthCare Chaplaincy’s Pioneer Medalrecognizes the singular accomplishments ofan individual whose seminal research and/orinnovative practice shape the way we thinkabout and understand the complex andcr i t ical issues in contemporary healthcare.

Dr. Pellegrino is professor emeritus ofmedicine and medical ethics at theCenter for Clinical Medical Ethics at

Georgetown University Medical Center. He also served as chairman ofthe president’s council on bioethics in Washington, DC. He was theJohn Carroll professor of medicine and medical ethics and the formerdirector of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, the Center for the AdvancedStudy of Ethics at Georgetown University, and the Center for ClinicalBioethics. Dr. Pellegrino is the author of over 575 published items inmedical science, philosophy, and ethics and a member of numerouseditorial boards.

Dr. Post is a bestselling author of The Hidden

Gifts of Helping: How the Power of Giving,

Compassion, and Hope Can Get Us through

Hard Times. Post is professor of preventivemedicine, and founding director of the Centerfor Medical Humanities, CompassionateCare, and Bioethics at Stony Brook UniversitySchool of Medicine. He was previouslyprofessor of Bioethics, Religion andPhilosophy, School of Medicine, CaseWestern Reserve University. Post is president

of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love. �

Spotlight on Palliative Care“Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention

and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.”

– World Health Organization, WHO Definition of Palliative Care, 2010

Two Leading Bioethicists Receive HealthCare Chaplaincy’s Pioneer

Medal for Outstanding Leadership in Health Care at Annual Convocation