The Department of Pastoral Services at Duke University Medical Center cares for a wide range of spiritual needs and spiritual injuries, providing a sensitive and inclusive ministry in health crises ranging from problem pregnancies and births to end-of-life decisions and death.

We seek to identify levels of hope within patients and their families, and to nurture this hope as they receive care. From this core goal we derive the following services for patients, their families, caregivers, and staff:

• Pastoral care and counseling
• Spiritual assessment, intervention, comfort, and nurture
• Facilitation and support of religious practices of all faiths and spiritual paths
• Emotional support
• Non-judgmental listening
• Crisis intervention
• Advocacy for patients and staff
• Collaboration with all members of the health care team
• Consultations on advanced directives, end-of-life decisions, and ethical issues
• Continued development of relationships with multi-faith leaders and communities who offer adjunct chaplaincy and referral-based spiritual and religious support

Chaplain Services

Chaplains are deployed throughout Duke University Medical Center 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a senior chaplain always on call.

Care is provided as a team. The team consists of clinical pastoral education (CPE) supervisors, clinical service unit (CSU) administrative chaplains, CPE supervisory fellows, CPE residents, CPE interns, and a bereavement counselor.

Hospital policy states that the on-call chaplain is paged for every death and every Code Blue (cardiac or respiratory distress) in the hospital.

If a patient, visitor, or caregiver desires a pastoral visit, please follow the directions based on the day and time.

• Weekdays: A staff person on your floor may page the unit chaplain, or you may phone the Pastoral Services office at 919-684-3586 and request a visit from the unit chaplain.
• Evenings/Weekends: A unit staff person may page the on-call chaplain, or you may call the paging operator at 919-684-8111 and have the on-call chaplain paged.

Clinical Service Unit (CSU) Administrative Chaplains

Each unit at Duke University Hospital is assigned a senior chaplain. The clinical service unit (CSU) administrative chaplains and their corresponding units are:

• Deborah Morgan: Medical, Surgical, and Oncology units
• Roger Velasquez: Heart Center, Emergency, Orthopaedics, and Women’s units
• Annette K. Olsen: Neurology, Pediatrics, and Women’s units

Hospital Prayer and Meditation Room

This sacred space, located in Duke University Hospital (on the sixth floor to the left of the elevators between 6100 and 6300), is open for prayer, meditation, and reflection for persons of all faiths, as well as regularly scheduled religious and spiritual-health related programs.

A public prayer ring binder for the inclusion of one's prayers is on the altar, and a chaplain will pray these prayers daily. Please contact the Pastoral Services office at 919-684-3586 to discuss scheduling events or to reach the contact person for your faith group.

Sixth Floor Hospital Chapel Schedule

Sunday

10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.: Christian ecumenical worship, Duke chaplain led (English)

11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.: Roman Catholic communion service (Spanish): Led by Hispanic Ministry Team: Raleigh Diocese -- Immaculata Concepcion (All Latino, Hispanic, and Spanish-speaking patients, family, and staff welcome.)

3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.: Roman Catholic mass: Fr. Victor Laroche, OP presiding

Monday

All day: Quiet prayer, reflection, meditation, spiritual reading/study

Tuesday

1:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Chair yoga for spiritual and physical health (led by Duke OT/PT staff). Staff, request to register by e-mailing melissa.kandel@duke.edu. Patients may ask a staff member to contact OT/PT.

Wednesday

12:00 p.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Roman Catholic mass: Fr. Victor Laroche, OP presiding

Thursday

1:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Chair yoga for spiritual and physical health (led by Duke OT/PT staff). Staff, request to register by e-mailing melissa.kandel@duke.edu. Patients may ask a staff member to contact OT/PT.

3:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m: Weekly open meditation session (with instructor). All beliefs welcome. Ten-minute instruction, 15-minute quiet meditation practice, and five-minute Q&A session.

Friday

10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.: Bikkur Cholim (Jewish visitation of the sick; electric shabbat candles available). 

1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.: Jumu’ah prayer. Open to all. Friday prayers led by the Muslim community at Duke.

After 4:00 p.m.: Family style Shabbat. To reserve the chapel for a service, page 919-970-8215.

Saturday

All day: Sabbath observance or prayer, meditation, spiritual reading (Adventist or Jewish families may reserve for sabbath observance; page 919-970-8215.)

The chapel is for religious and spiritual health activities. No food or drink is allowed. Please leave chapel for unrelated conversations.

Televised Religious Services (Hospital TV Channel 50)

 
All programming, except Jumu'ah, is held in the sixth floor hospital chapel. The chapel is open 24 hours for persons of all paths.

If you are a patient, please plan ahead with your nurse for transportation to the hospital chapel. If you have questions about the chapel or programs, call 919-684-2843 or 919-684-3586 (weekdays), or page us at 919-970-8215 (evenings/weekends).

Contact

James Rawlings, Jr., DMin
Pastoral Services Department
DUMC Box 3112
Durham, NC 27710
919-684-3586
james.rawlings@duke.edu

Locations

This service is available at:

• Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center
  2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC 27710
• Duke University Hospital
  2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC 27710