The Spiritual Health Office at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC):
- Provides personal support, spiritual care, and guidance
- Steps in to help someone in crisis
- Offers short-term counseling
- Works with local religious groups
Human beings are spiritual beings as well as physical ones. Spiritual concerns are a natural part of an experience of critical injury or illness.
Support available at DHMC
Support through the Spiritual Health Office is available Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.
- If you need the services of a spiritual leader of a particular faith group, the Spiritual Health Office will assist you in locating an appropriate person to help.
- Patients, families, or local clergy may also request a visit from a staff chaplain by contacting the Spiritual Health Office or a DHMC staff member (hospital staff may refer patients for a staff chaplain visit by telephone, pager, or eDH consult order). Staff chaplains are not available on evenings and weekends.
- Certain pastoral services are also provided by volunteer eucharistic ministers and by students in our Clinical Pastoral Education programs.
- Staff chaplains may also visit without referral as an expression of our hospitality and concern. Your refusal of a chaplaincy visit is always respected.
Spaces to sit in silence, meditate, or pray at DHMC are available 24/7 (see "Sacred spaces at DHMC" below). Certain faiths also offer regular religious services in the Interfaith Chapel (see "Religious services offered" below).
Sacred spaces at DHMC
The Interfaith Chapel on Level 1 of the Patient Pavilion (Inpatient Wings A and B) is a place for rest, reflection, and renewal. It is open 24/7. All patients, visitors, and staff are welcome to sit in silence, meditate, or pray.
The Garden of Hope and the indoor space leading to it on Level 3 near the Cancer Center Entrance is another sacred space available to all patients, visitors, and staff.
Religious services offered
Tuesdays
12:00 pm (noon)
Roman Catholic Mass
in the chapel as well as broadcast over channel 15 on the in-house channel
Thursdays
12:00 pm (noon)
Roman Catholic Mass
in the chapel as well as broadcast over channel 15 on the in-house channel
Fridays
1:00 to 1:20 pm
Islamic prayers
Islamic High Friday Prayers are offered in the new Pavilion on Level 1 each Friday afternoon. Prayer rugs are provided.
The Interfaith Chapel has holy books from several major religions. It also has inspirational reading that is not tied to any one faith and relates to being in the hospital. If you or your family ask, we can bring the holy books of most religions to your bedside. Please do not hand out reading materials in the hospital without approval from the Spiritual Health Office.
Why is spiritual health important?
Patients, their loved ones, and the staff who care for them have spiritual needs. They can benefit from focusing on their thoughts, feelings, and concerns that go along with serious illness or injury.
Even people who aren't religious often feel better and more comforted when someone cares about their spiritual needs. Simply talking with someone who can understand the burdens of care can bring relief.
People who are active in their faith often find comfort in the practices they know well. Prayer, reading holy books, and other religious rituals can give them peace and a sense of meaning. These practices can also ease worries that come with being sick.
What is a chaplain?
Hospital chaplains are ministers who are trained to support people of many different faiths.
Our staff chaplains have:
- Faith-group endorsements
- Professional certification
- Interreligious healthcare setting work experience
For community clergy and religious leaders
You're welcome and encouraged to visit people affiliated with their congregations. You may apply for a hospital-issued ID at the Chaplain's Office, though this is not required.
What do chaplains do?
Hospital chaplains care for people of all faiths. They help each person draw on their own beliefs for strength.
A chaplain will not try to change your beliefs or judge how you practice your faith. Instead, they offer support. You can talk about your feelings, find your strengths, and share spiritual concerns.
Each chaplain can offer religious services from their own faith. If you need something they can't provide, they will help you and your loved ones find someone who can. Chaplains can also offer short-term counseling to patients, families, and staff.
What type of patient privacy and clergy support do you provide?
Local clergy may only visit patients who belong to their own congregations, unless a patient invites them.
If you don't want visits from Spiritual Health staff, but you do want a visit from your own pastor, you need to tell your pastor which room you are in. If you ask for no visits at all, Spiritual Health will not share your information with your home church.
Local clergy are welcome to stop by the Spiritual Health Office. Staff there can help them find members of their own congregations.