BC health authority dismisses all of its chaplains

A debate has begun in BC over the value of hospital spiritual care directors after the Fraser Health Authority dismissed all 12 of its chaplains late last year. In an Op/Ed piece in the Vancouver Sun, Douglas Todd writes “while leading edge medical organizations around the world are providing more spiritual and emotional support for patients – aware of hundreds of studies showing a correlation with greater health – the Fraser Health Authority has turned the opposite direction.”  The FHA has also cut social workers and psychological counsellors. Todd argues the Chaplains are often not ordained, but have master’s degrees combining psychology and religion.  Their role is to listen to patients, including helping them grieve, enhance often-troubled relationships and make agaonizingly important decisions. Chaplains come from a wide range of spiritual backgrounds – they try and meet the spiritual and emotional needs of the patient as the patient presents them, “regardless of the patient’s religion or lack of it.” The FHA spent about $650,000 per year providing the service – an amount almost equal to the salary of the health authority’s CEO. Others have argued that the chaplains have no role on the public payroll, that patients should seek support from their local congregation. Todd argues that congregation-based clergy aren’t trained in life and death situations involving tricky medical options.