Advocate Lutheran General Hospital Clinical Pastoral Education program
Institutional context
Advocate Lutheran General Hospital with 638 inpatient beds is the major tertiary, quadrinary care, and adult and pediatric trauma center for northwest suburban Chicago. It is situated just north of O'Hare International Airport in Park Ridge, Illinois.
The hospital was founded in Chicago in 1897 and celebrated its 50th year at its Park Ridge location in 2009. It opened with a pastoral care department, a CPE program and a commitment to wholistic health care under the philosophy of human ecology. Lutheran General Health system merged with Evangelical Health System in 1995 and became Advocate Health Care.
Population served
Advocate Lutheran General draws patients from a wide area with considerable diversity. Although the patient population is predominantly Roman Catholic, it also includes a large minority of Protestant Christians, a significant percentage of Jewish patients and a growing number of Islamic, Buddhist and Hindu patients, representing the increasingly growing cosmopolitan make-up of the surrounding community.
Description of spiritual care department
The chaplaincy department of Advocate Lutheran General currently includes three full and five half-time chaplains representing diverse faith groups including Jewish, Roman Catholic and various Protestant denominations. There are four stipended resident chaplains at Advocate Lutheran General that comprise the resident CPE program. A Vice President of Mission and Spiritual Care, who reports directly to the hospital's chief operating officer oversees the department. A Manager, oversees daily ministry at Advocate Lutheran General.
The chaplaincy department of the Advocate Children's Hospital – Park Ridge includes 2 full time chaplains, several registry chaplains and a Vice President of Mission and Spiritual Care who serves as administrator for all of the Advocate Children's Hospital sites.
Two unique services of the hospital include a full-time certified music therapist and a full-time clinical ethicist. Both services have training programs in their respective disciplines.
Spiritual Care is an integral part of the hospital and is well integrated into the clinical units and the operations of the hospital.
Unique educational elements
Advocate Lutheran General, as part of the Advocate system CPE Center, offers a full range of programs which include a stipended residency, summer intensive programs, fall, winter and/or spring extended programs, and may serve as a site for residency in supervisory education. The annual cycle of programs is usually compatible with the academic schedules of most seminaries so that seminarians may take intensive or extended CPE programs at various times during the year. The extended units accommodate students that cannot take a full-time program. All programs draw on and are coordinated with Advocate system resources.
The system-synchronized CPE resident program features a twelve-month, three (3) unit CPE curriculum. Most weeks include about 10 hours of group work and about 28 hours of clinical experience. The CPE resident program trains chaplains to practice research-informed spiritual care which leads to specialized learning in ministry. The resident curriculum also attends to the consultative and certification needs of those considering professional chaplaincy. The 4 chaplain residents negotiate rotations through clinical areas at Advocate Lutheran General. All resident chaplains have opportunity to develop evidence-based specialties by way of research projects during their residency.
As a CPE program site, Advocate Lutheran General allows for a variety of clinical experiences for all its chaplain students. The variety includes work in medical, surgical, critical care, trauma, cardiology, oncology, palliative care, pediatric, obstetric, psychiatry, dementia, rehabilitation, and substance abuse areas. All CPE students are assigned to clinical areas and provide on-call ministry.
The hospital has always been committed to education. It is affiliated with several area medical schools, including the University of Chicago. CPE students have an opportunity to work along with residents and student interns from other disciplines.
The program at Advocate Lutheran General has had extensive experience with international students and first generation immigrants. Our student population has included many from Europe, Asia, India, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Australia.
Pertinent information for applicants
A non-refundable deposit, applicable to fees, is required to hold a place in any program when the applicant is offered a position.
Students may not begin a program until they have complied with the mandated pre-employment physical exam, drug screening and criminal record background check.
For more information
Yonason Meadows
CPE Manager Midwest Region
Email: yonason.meadows@aah.org