At Orlando Health in Orlando, Florida, spiritual care of patients is a priority. Indeed, Orlando Health has been characterized by The Joint Commission and state regulatory bodies as offering “state of the art” spiritual care for its patients.

While Orlando Health is not a faith-based healthcare system, it made a commitment more than twenty-five years ago to developing a strong Spiritual Care Department, encouraging “the growth and healing of mind, body, and spirit through a spiritual presence of faith, hope, and love.”

How does it do this? In three ways. First, Orlando Health hires chaplains to provide spiritual care for patients, their families, and hospital employees, and it partners with spiritual leaders in the community to provide spiritual care for patients from their own faith traditions. The chaplains and other spiritual care providers are seen as just as important as the healthcare providers who provide for patients’ physical needs.

Second, Orlando Health views healing in a holistic way. In addition to traditional medicine, patients are offered such complementary therapies as healing touch, music therapy, art therapy, and pet therapy. It’s not unusual for patients who weren’t responding to traditional treatment alone to show signs of improvement when that treatment is combined with complementary therapies.

Third, Orlando Health is open to spirituality on all levels of the organization, an openness which ultimately impacts patient care. Chaplains minister not only to patients but also to nurses, physicians, and administrators. Because of the relationships they have built, chaplains find that their presence on committees and in the halls raises people’s level of awareness about ethical issues and about the quality of their relationships with one another. Chaplain Debbie Lewis muses:

When people see us chaplains, it makes them think about things they wouldn’t otherwise think about, about ethical matters, about really caring about and supporting one another, about working together as a team and nurturing one another, about taking moments to not just do tasks but to reflect together, to appreciate one another, to value one another.

Because chaplains make themselves available to administrators in stressful moments, to nurses when they encounter difficult patients or families, to physicians when they struggle to meet all the demands placed on them, they act as leaven throughout the system.

Orlando Health, through its commitment to spiritual care, has demonstrated that patient care can be improved, that staff relationships can be strengthened, and that the organization can operate more effectively. Long-term commitment to the development of a Spiritual Care Department has served this healthcare system well.


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Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., author of "Soul at Work: Spiritual Leadership in Organizations," and "The Soul of a Leader: Finding Your Path to Success and Fulfillment," works with leaders in business, healthcare, churches, government and non-profits to help them develop spiritual leadership. Visit her website at www.ExecutiveSoul.com. © Copyright 2008 by Margaret Benefiel.