Hospital Ministry in Chinook Winds Region

Live out your faith by helping others in their time of need.

Policy Goals are established to progress the Purpose

Policy Limits are defined that help preserve and defend the Purpose

Working Group and Community of Faith Tools, Processes, and Resources have been designed that progress the Purpose

Jesus Calls Us to Visit

“I was sick and you visited me,” Jesus reminds us (Mt 25:36, ESV).

Do you have a heart and a passion to follow Jesus and offer a message of hope to those who are sick in hospital?

The United Church of Canada, Chinook Winds Region wants to bring a message of hope into our hospitals based on Jesus’ teachings.

Is the Spirit moving in you to provide hopeful space in service of those who need a calm presence when they are in hospital? If so, please join us to learn about the skills and practice of hospital visiting. This is an important ministry that can make a positive difference in the lives of those we visit. Come and live out your faith by helping others in their time of need.

Chinook Winds Hospital Visitation Program

Intended Audience for Hospital Ministry Online Course

Offered Seasonally

This program is offered to all persons in the Chinook Winds region, both clergy and lay. Whether you have a good deal of pastoral care experience or none at all, this online Zoom course. This course will equip you for service as a hospital visitor.

A Snapshot of Those We Visit

We visit adults who have self-identified on hospital admission as members of the United Church of Canada. Most of these people will not have an active membership in a congregation. Some of those we visit might be seriously ill and have doubts and questions about faith. Our role is not to change their minds, or to cure what cannot be cured. Our role is to offer a sympathetic ear and an empathetic presence.

Is this Program for me?

Do you have a passion and a heart for visiting others?
Do you have a warm presence and a spirit open to bringing comfort to those who are ill?
Are you comfortable in your own skin and don’t want or need to change others?
Can you see yourself sitting with people who might be seriously ill, and have experienced loss and grief of a wide range due to a wide range of causes? And who may have doubts and questions about their faith?
Are you active in a United Church congregation?
Are you willing to take further education through specific programs so you can be an effective team member with responsibilities both to the United Church and to the Alberta Health Services Visitors’ requirements?
Are you open to guidance to being an ongoing learner?
Do you have a strong desire to a hopeful faith to those who need a calm presence who can bring a ministry of presence?

Course Content

Exploring God’s presence in our own lives: Call and Response, Jesus the Master Visitor
Self-Care and Boundaries (Limits and Scope of Volunteers)
Confidentiality and Ethics
The physical and intellectual effects of ageing
The Art and Skill of Visiting: Uncomfortable conversations and different perspectives.
Next Steps: AHS Requirements and Expectations

How to Sign Up?

If you would like to find out more or be placed on the list for the next course offering, please email Geoffrey Simmins, Chinook Winds Region Hospital Ministry Coordinator.

The Hospital Ministry Coordinator and the volunteer Hospital Ministries Team (a subcommittee of the Region’s Lay Ministry Support Working Group) are working towards the goal to have Alberta Health Services (AHS)-approved United Church Hospital Ministry in all Acute Care Hospitals in the region by 2022.