Tauranga Hospital Chaplaincy Service

TAURANGA HOSPITAL CHAPLAINCY SERVICE BAY OF PLENTY DISTRICT HEALTH BOARD

I am very pleased to present my first report on the Tauranga Hospital Chaplaincy Service. I took up my post here on the 1st of August last year, and it has been a very privileged year; challenging, demanding, but in many ways very special.

It has not been an easy year for the chaplaincy team and there have been times of great sadness. The Reverend Jacqui Cavit, the other full-time chaplain, lost her daughter to cancer, and Kevin Hallam, one of our regular locums, died suddenly and unexpectedly.

These events cannot but have an impact on the team. Throughout the difficulties we have been able to count on the support of our locum chaplains, Paulo Leaso, Dave Sales, Robert Anderson, John Macdonald and of course Kevin. We are greatly indebted to them for their readiness to help and their very full contribution to the chaplaincy team and the hospital. We have also had the support of the Tauranga Interchurch Hospital Chaplaincy committee made up of representatives of the contributing churches and the District Health Board. The Committee has a vital oversight and support role that complements the national management function of the ICHC, the Interchurch Council for Hospital Chaplaincy. This year Betty Owen, our Committee Chair has passed on the baton to John Binns. Betty’s contribution to chaplaincy has been and will continue to be considerable, and we are very thankful for all she has done.

In terms of team development over the year Jacqui has become a fully accredited hospital chaplain and I have just completed my first unit of clinical pastoral education. We have had a successful recruitment campaign for new Voluntary Chaplaincy Assistants (VCAs), and 6 successful candidates completed their training and are now taking an active part in visiting the wards, adding to the 10 VCAs who are already a key part of our ministry to the whole hospital community.

ICHC nationally is undergoing change under new management, and new strategic initiatives are under way. Chaplaincy teams are involved in these developments and Jacqui is representing Tauranga throughout the process. We anticipate new developments which will benefit chaplaincy teams and all who count on their services.

Tauranga Hospital is constantly developing and a new Bay of Plenty Oncology and Radiotherapy centre is nearing completion. This will drastically reduce the need for patients to travel to Waikato for some treatments.

We are always happy to receive referrals to visit patients in hospital, meet with any Church visitors/ministers when visiting in the hospital and to accept speaking/preaching engagements to talk about Hospital Chaplaincy.

We can be contacted through the hospital (07) 579 8000 or direct dial (07) 579 8295/8735.

Sam Held

Ecumenical Hospital Chaplain Tauranga Hospital