FARMINGTON — Responding to a need for spiritual care and emotional needs of patients and their families, six volunteers recently completed chaplain associate training at Franklin Memorial Hospital.

The 100-hour training is a new nondenominational program done in response to a tremendous interest, the Rev. Marriott Churchill, director of chaplaincy services at FMH, said. The volunteers are certified volunteer chaplain associates at FMH only, she added.

Those who completed the 10-month training included Marge Beckler, Glennice Cottle, Jim Farley, Belle Foss, Alex Freeman and Rita Porter.

They will now be available on a volunteer basis to provide “pastoral care and counseling for the religious, spiritual and emotional needs of patients and their families in the face of a new diagnosis and/or dealing with death, grief and loss,” according to a prepared statement.

The training involved such aspects as listening and being aware of their issues so they won’t take them into the patient’s room with them, Churchill said.

A team of chaplains, the Revs. Doug Dunlap, Tim Walmer, Steve Bracy and Churchill provided the training.

A new class is set to begin in March and Churchill is taking applications. After receiving the application, she meets with the person to sort through whether it’s something they want to do and if it fits them, she said.

She looks for a “person that is open and willing to enter into the journey of someone else but never asks the patient into their own journey, knowledgeable enough of different faiths, the age group needed and male/female balance,” she said. “Someone with sensitivity, a natural gift for listening and being present — I look at that very much.”

The training includes presentations, exploring case studies and supervised practice preparing them to deal with death, tragedy, diagnosis and the journey of a cancer patient, she said.

Although the participants were taught to offer prayer when requested, they don’t push their own faith or prayer on the patient, she said.

As a member of the family support team, formerly known as patient support team, for nearly 20 years, Isabelle Foss gained knowledge from taking the chaplain training but will continue with her work on the team.

When the team started, it was trained for crisis situations such as cancer patients and families, or families of an accident victim in the emergency room, she said.

“It’s not always a crisis. Sometimes patients don’t have a lot of visitors and just want to talk,” she said.

Churchill became chaplain at FMH in 2000 and served area churches until 2008. Now she supervises the other chaplains and the chaplain associates.

Being a chaplain “can be stressful with a high burnout rate,” she said. “As part of the training the chaplain associates were taught to find ways to take care of themselves as caretakers and caregivers.”

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