Introduction to CPE

My clinical pastoral education [CPE] is at St Anthony North Hospital in Westminster, Colorado which is part of the metro Denver area. The town of Westminster is 5 miles north of Denver and 22 miles southeast of Boulder with a population of about 100,000. St. Anthony North is the third largest employer in Westminster.
The hospital website is http://www.stanthonynorth.org/.

This is a small hospital, a total of 130 beds, serving a lower income population. The usual hospital population is about 90-100 patients. My work as an intern chaplain has me doing a total of 300 clinical hours—spent in clinical visitation, time actually with patients, families and staff in the hospital, and 100 hours of group and supervised reflection and learning. Clinical time includes a variety of learning opportunities, including regular visitation during the week, with referrals and introductory visits, and one weekend on-call each month responding to emergency pages and needs within the hospital. Opportunities for ministry and relational care include care to patients, their families and loved ones, and staff. The topics that we are learning about are:
+Empathy & Compassionate care
+Family Systems Theory
+End of life or terminal diagnosis care (Palliative)
+Healing and Meaning-making
+Dying and Death
+Advance Directives
+Behavioral Health
+Grief, Loss, and Mourning
+Trauma and Crisis Care
+Medical Ethics
+Spiritual Assessment
+Worship and Ritual

The purpose of CPE is theological and professional education focused on developing one's skills, abilities, and person to care for the spiritual, emotional, and relational needs of others. CPE is learning and formation through professional relationships with patients, staff members, peers, yourself and your supervisor. And it is learning by doing, a dynamic and experiential model of learning, which works well for me. My cohort is 4 interns, one resident, one part-time chaplain and our supervisor/director of our program. I’ll introduce these folks in the next post.

I’m living with my brother, Pat and his terrific wife Deb. They have set me up in their lovely home with a comfortable bedroom and also a workspace. Plus lots of diet Pepsi. Pat and Deb are working long hours in their custom brokerage firm and I have several evenings a week alone. After the fast pace of the school year and the emotional demands of the hospital work, I am glad for the time alone and quiet.

Pat’s home is out by the Denver airport about 15 miles east from the hospital. The commute is real challenge for this small town girl. My work starts at 8.00 am. If I leave at 7.00 the commutes is about 30 minutes. If l leave at 7.15 then it’s 45 minutes, unless there is a jam. If I leave at 7.30, those 15 miles can take an hour. The evening commute is harder. At least twice a week it takes an hour and a half to get home. My little red roller skate of a car, which usually gets great mileage, shimmies in the traffic and sucks up the gas as I try to practice patience.

I listen to Colorado Public Radio on the commute and those initials, CPR, are used to identify the station. With my time at the hospital, CPR means more than public radio and every time I hear it I think of the hospital meaning. Context is everything!