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Spiritual Care

Everyone Deserves Spiritual Care

The primary mission of the Spiritual Care department is to provide emotional and spiritual support to patients, family and staff.

Chaplains provide a supportive presence to everyone at the hospital. Chaplains can help you work through the anxiety and concern that often surrounds time in a hospital. We can also speak with you about how the hospital experience affects your spiritual journey. Chaplains are companions on the road, offering a listening ear and an open heart and mind. Of course, we are also always available to share prayer with patients, family and staff. We can also contact a patient's faith community if a patient requests it.

The spiritual care department believes that everyone deserves spiritual care regardless of faith orientation or even if you have no organized religion. For us, spirituality is not just about formal religious affiliation, as important as that can be. Ultimately, spirituality is about the need we all share for meaning in our lives. The chaplains at Memorial Health System would like to walk with you on that journey. The hospital chaplains will never criticize your faith (or lack thereof) or try to convert you to a specific faith or denomination.

Chaplains can assist or perform a variety of religious rituals:

  • Communion (Catholic or Protestant)
  • Anointing (Catholic or Protestant)
  • Baptism or child dedication
  • Weddings
  • Funerals and memorial services

Contact a Staff Chaplain

Memorial Hospital Central
1400 East Boulder
Monday-Friday: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Weekends: 1 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Memorial Hospital North
4050 Briargate Parkway
Monday-Friday: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
719-364-2767

An on-call chaplain is available at all other times and can be reached through the hospital operator, 365-5000 (Memorial Hospital Central) or 364-5000 (Memorial Hospital North). Catholic priests and Lay Eucharistic Ministers are in the hospital at various times. Please contact a staff chaplain for more information or to request a visit.

10 Times to Call a Chaplain:

  1. When you need to speak with someone about spiritual or emotional concerns
  2. When you feel the need for prayer or would like to receive a blessing or the sacraments
  3. When you need help finding or contacting spiritual resources in the community. Chaplains will call your faith community upon your request
  4. When there is a new diagnosis or a reoccurrence, especially of a serious or life-limiting illness
  5. Before surgery or other procedure that might create anxiety or fear
  6. When a difficult ethical decision needs to be discussed or advance directives need to be made (DNRs, living wills, etc.)
  7. To be with family and friends during difficult times or if there is family conflict
  8. To struggle together with unanswerable questions like "Why is this happening to me?" or "Where is God?"
  9. When a patient is facing death or to help with funeral arrangements
  10. When a staff member needs support