Spiritual Care
111 Colchester Avenue
Main Campus- Patrick- Level 1
Burlington, VT 05401
Chaplain Hours & Availability
Daily, 8 am - 4:30 pm
(802) 847-2775, located in Patrick 131, Medical Center Main Campus
For Emergency Spiritual/Emotional Needs Any Time
Call the hospital operator (802) 847-0000 and ask for the chaplain on call.
About Us
The mission of the Spiritual Care Department is to encourage and support holistic well-being of all persons at the UVM Medical Center by providing emotional and spiritual support, especially in times of crisis, chronic illness or imminent death.
Our team of interfaith chaplains responds to the basic universal human needs of those we serve. Our chaplains offer spiritual care and emotional support, routinely and in crisis situations, for people of all faiths and spiritual identities as well as for those who have no particular faith or affiliation. Spiritual care may include honoring what is most sacred and precious to patients and families; finding and fostering forgiveness and reconciliation; sharing in prayer, blessings, and/or meditation; marking and ritualizing life transitions, particularly at End of Life; and thinking through and making important decisions.
The UVM Medical Center Spiritual Care Department chaplains are keenly aware of the diverse religious, spiritual and cultural needs of our community. We seek to treat all people with respect, dignity and compassion, and to attend to and honor the ways they make meaning.
An essential part of UVM Medical Center’s commitment to providing whole-person patient care, our interfaith chaplains are fully integrated members of UVM Medical Center's treatment teams. The department's spiritual care staff is comprised of Board Certified chaplains and chaplain interns training in our ACPE nationally accredited Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) center.
Interfaith chaplains are routinely available between 8 am and 4:30 pm, daily, and at other times for emergencies. Whenever possible, we seek to provide for the particular spiritual and religious needs of each patient and family.
If you are in need of assistance, please call the Spiritual Care Department confidential voice line at 802-847-2775, located on Patrick 131, Medical Center Campus.
The following are many of the ways we serve UVM Medical Center patients, families and staff:
- Spiritual visits to patients and families
- Assessment and support of spiritual needs
- Roman Catholic Sacramental ministry -- the sacraments of Anointing of the Sick, Holy Communion and Confession
- Spiritual support in emergency situations
- Support in times of decision-making
- Ministry to grieving and bereaved persons
- Spiritual support for staff
- Short-term spiritual counseling and referrals
- Regular and special worship services
- Networking with community clergy
- Educational events and workshops
- ACPE Accredited CPE program
- Providing various Sacred Texts and other spiritual literature
- Religious specific items: Sabbath menorah, prayer beads, prayer beads, rosary beads and prayer rugs
- Providing information on the multicultural/spiritual traditions of various faith groups
- Coordinating and supporting volunteers who assist the staff in bringing Holy Communion and visiting patients.
We welcome you to get in touch with us about other ways we may be helpful to you.
Chapel
The Medical Center Chapel is located on Patrick Level 1 (hall heading to McClure).
The Chapel is open for private prayer and meditation, except when services are being held. You are welcome to come to pray, meditate or simply seek peace, day or night.
We welcome patients, families and staff to attend the following services:
| Worship | Day | Time |
| Catholic Mass | Wednesdays | 11:30 a.m. |
| Muslim Prayer | Fridays | 12:45 p.m. |
| Meditation | TBA | TBA |
** The Catholic Mass may be viewed from patient rooms on television - Channel 49.
Clinical Pastoral Education at the UVM Medical Center
Welcome to The University of Vermont Medical Center and our ACPE Certified Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Center! We are excited you’re interested in learning more about program.
The following is our upcoming CPE unit at The University of Vermont Medical Center:
- Summer 2024 Full-Time Intensive Summer CPE Unit: This Level 1A and 1B unit will run from May 28 - August 9, 2024. The first week is asynchronous and remote. The first in-person day is Monday, June 3, 2024. We are reviewing applications now.
- We will have an Extended CPE unit beginning in late October 2024. We have not yet set those dates. Please check back in the Spring 2024 when we will begin planning for that CPE unit.
We have rolling admissions for our CPE program; please send us your completed ACPE CPE application when you have it complete. We review them in the order in which we receive them. Many of our CPE units fill up many weeks or months before the start of the CPE unit. Even if a CPE unit isn’t completely full, because we have several “on-boarding” components that must be completed before students arrive on campus, we cannot accept any new students within 4 weeks of the start of a CPE unit. Please plan accordingly.
WHAT IS CPE?
CPE is an experiential theological education designed to increase self-awareness and develop and sharpen one’s ability to provide spiritual care for patients, families, and staff at The University of Vermont Medical Center. The guiding principles and underlying assumptions include the following:
- Ministry takes place in the context of relationship.
- One’s own personhood is the most important tool one has for providing spiritual and pastoral care.
- One must be open to personal and professional growth.
- One must have a basic understanding of one’s own spiritual/faith perspective and how to use it to connect with the spiritual/faith perspective of the recipient of one’s care.
- One must be aware of how one’s personal history may impact in the role of chaplain.
Chaplain interns who join us in the study and practice of spiritual care do so in an atmosphere that is supportive of their personal and professional growth. We value our interns’ contributions to the spiritual care provided to patients, patients' loved ones and staff at The University of Vermont Medical Center. Our aim is to make this experience equally valuable to our students.
Below are quick links to the CPE application and answers to Frequently Asked Questions about CPE.
APPLICATION FEE -- $50
We ask you include a $50 application fee with your completed ACPE CPE application. If you are accepted to our CPE program, your application fee is credited toward your tuition.
Checks should be made out to The University of Vermont Medical Center and sent to the following address:
Rev. Nancy Wood
UVMMC Spiritual Care
111 Colchester Avenue
Burlington, Vermont 05401
TUITION
Tuition is $900 per unit, the balance payable during the first week of the program unless otherwise arranged with the ACPE Certified Educator. A non-refundable deposit of $200 is required at the time of acceptance and is credited toward tuition cost. Your $50 application fee is also credited toward your CPE tuition. We are committed to working with accepted students to ensure that tuition costs are not a barrier to participating in our program.
To find out more about our CPE program, please consider attending one of our information sessions held via video conference (MS Teams). To let us know you’ll be joining us and to receive the video link, please email Nancy Wood at Nancy [dot] Wood
UVMHealth [dot] org or Kirsty DePree at Kirsty [dot] DePreeUVMHealth [dot] org.
Upcoming dates for the information sessions are as follows:
Wednesday, January 10 at 7 pm
Tuesday, February 6 at 7 pm
Wednesday, March 20 at 7 pm
If you are unable to attend any of these dates, please let us know and we’ll add another at a mutually agreeable time.
We look forward to sharing with you our enthusiasm for CPE and answering your questions about this transformative model of spiritual care education.
The Clinical Pastoral Education Program at UVMMC is accredited by ACPE, The Standard for Spiritual Care and Education
ACPE, Inc.
1 Concourse Pkwy, Suite 800
Atlanta, GA 30328
www.acpe.edu
(404) 320-1472