Program History
History of the Patient Counseling Program and Pastoral Care at Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia Commonwealth University Health System
The Medical College of Virginia Hospital (MCVH) first made a commitment to pastoral care in 1943, when the Rev. Dr. George D. Ossman was employed as the first chaplain. MCVH's original vision was to provide not only pastoral care for patients and staff but also to provide pastoral care education. In order to fulfill this vision, Dr. Ossman spent several months during the next year studying with Dr. Roland Fairbanks, a hospital chaplain who taught clinical pastoral education. Dr. Ossman returned to MCVH and for the next fourteen years he served as chaplain and clinical pastoral educator.
In 1958, MCVH made a firm commitment to develop a clinical pastoral education center. The Rev. A.P.L. Prest, Jr., then acting supervisor in the Council for Clinical Training, Inc., was hired to establish a CPE program. In 1959 a site visit was conducted by Charles Gerkin, William Andrews, and Knox Kreutzer and MCVH was accredited, accepting intern students in the summer and residents in the fall. The Rev. George Polk, who was one of the first African-Americans to become a certified supervisor by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE), was a member of that 1959 resident class. The first MCV chaplain resident to receive supervisory training and become certified was Rev. Max Maguire, who later became president of the ACPE. Since its original accreditation in 1959, the Program in Patient Counseling has successfully been reviewed in 1966, 1973, 1980, 1987, 1994, 2000, 2005 and 2010.
Since 1959, over 1300 students have completed the requirements of the residency, intern or extern programs at MCVH. Dr. Prest also established a cooperative program with the School of Theology of Virginia Union University (STVUU) in 1958. From 1958 through 1991, 496 students completed the affiliated program, meeting the School of Theology of Virginia Union University’s degree requirements for clinical pastoral education.
From 1958 through 1970, the CPE program at MCVH was cooperatively sponsored by state and ecclesiastical authorities. In 1970, the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) accepted full responsibility for the department and located it in the School of Allied Health Professions. During this time the State Attorney General, Andrew Miller, ruled that the presence of the Program in Patient Counseling at MCVH did not abridge the Jeffersonian doctrine separating Church and State. Since this ruling, MCVH has supported the service delivery dimension of the Program in Patient Counseling through the Pastoral Care Department while the School of Allied Health Professions has served as the program's educational home.
In 1966, a second supervisor, the Rev. Dean Williams, was employed to assist with teaching responsibilities. Rev. Williams left in 1970 and in 1971 the Rev. Dr. Roy Woodruff was employed with the specific goal to bring the department into compliance with the university's graduate degree requirements. Under Dr. Woodruff's leadership, the CPE curriculum was integrated into the university's graduate school curriculum and a proposal was submitted for a Master's degree. Unfortunately, the Master's degree proposal met with opposition and was not procured but the Program in Patient Counseling became a member of the university's academic community.
In 1971, a third faculty member, the Rev. Dr. J. Luther Mauney, Jr., joined the faculty as an instructor for the extern program. In 1974, a fourth faculty position was acquired through an allied health grant that was part of a cooperative venture with the Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) in Richmond. The Rev. Dr. Dan McKeever held this position for two years, establishing a CPE site at VAMC. The Rev. Dr. Robert A. Young, Jr. filled Dr. McKeever's position after he left in 1976. Shortly after Dr. Young's arrival, Dr. Woodruff also left the program and his position was filled in 1978 by Rev. Andrew C. Puckett, Jr. That same year, Dr. Young's position was assumed by the School of Allied Health Professions as the allied health grant ended. In 1979, the Rev. Marlyne Cain joined the faculty part-time to aid with teaching and clinical responsibilities. Rev. Puckett left the program in 1982 to become the Cancer Rehabilitation and Continuing Care Chaplain for the Massey Cancer Center and in 1983 Rev. Cain became a full time faculty member.
The educational responsibilities of the Program in Patient Counseling continued to increase. In 1989, the Rev. Teresa Snorton joined the faculty to aid in teaching the School of Theology of Virginia Union University students and in recruiting minority students. Rev. Snorton left in 1990 and later became Executive Director for ACPE. After Rev. Snorton's departure, the Rev. Dr. Lucio Mutia served as a visiting professor from Silliman University, Dumagette City, Philippines. During his tenure in the program, Dr. Mutia was certified as a chaplain supervisor by the ACPE. Dr. Mutia, who left in 1993, added a fresh perspective and cultural diversity to the educational program. He rejoined the faculty in 1999 on a part-time basis until 2007 when he returned to the Philippines. After Dr. Prest retired in 1993 with 35 years of service to MCVH and the pastoral care community, Dr. Mauney was appointed interim chair and in 1993 was chosen as the Chair of the Program in Patient Counseling and the Director of the Pastoral Care Department. In September of 1993, the Rev. Cecelia Williams was employed to assist with teaching responsibilities, pastoral care, and community and hospital relations regarding issues of diversity and multiculturalism.
In 1991, the Program in Patient Counseling took a step beyond its bounds. The Pastoral Care Department at St. Mary's Hospital in Richmond demonstrated interest in having students in clinical pastoral education. An affiliation agreement was contracted, a student supervisor secured, and the supervision of CPE students began at St. Mary's Hospital. Until 1993, the Program in Patient Counseling and the Pastoral Care Department of St. Mary's Hospital enjoyed a beneficial relationship. In 1995, a clinical placement arrangement was initiated with Mary Washington Hospital (now Medicorp Health System) in Fredericksburg. This contract continued until 2009 when they became an independent site. Additional clinical affiliations were negotiated with Southside Regional Medical Center in Petersburg in 2004.
The clinical dimension of the Program in Patient Counseling, the Pastoral Care Department, has long been identified in the hospital through its program residents, who are known as chaplain counselors. The department consistently employs five to seven full time chaplain residents and occasionally a second year resident, who also serves as a chief resident. In 1992, an increased commitment to staff chaplaincy began. A bereavement program was initiated at MCVH and the Rev. Dr. Daniel K. Festa was employed as the first Bereavement Coordinator. The bereavement program is managed through the Pastoral Care Department. Dr. Festa provided leadership and pastoral care to acute care areas, particularly the emergency rooms and the trauma intensive care units. In 1993, Dr. Festa and the Rev. Ken Faulkner, Chaplain for Pediatric Oncology, joined the faculty as clinical instructors.
In 1996, the Rev. Dr. Alexander Tartaglia was appointed as the third department chair. In his tenure, the department continued a trend toward the development of clinical faculty and enlargement of the pastoral care staff. In 1997, the Rev. Dr. Ann Charlescraft was employed as an instructor and the first full time pediatric chaplain. That same year, a hospital initiative to increase organ donation resulted in the addition of a Family Communication Coordinator (FCC) chaplain. Dr. Alice Linyear served as Adjunct Assistant Professor and the FCC chaplain and team leader until her retirement in 2001. She was succeeded by Ken Faulkner. In 1998, the chief resident began serving as the week night chaplain. In 1999, Jim Bonomo was appointed as instructor and pediatric oncology chaplain. In 2000, Dan Festa left the department and Rev. Alma Hassell and Rev. Stephanie Hamilton were both appointed as instructors and chaplains. In 2001, the department received a grant for an additional FCC chaplain and Rev. The'Resa Woodfolk was hired for that position in 2002. When the grant ended, the hospital approved additional funding for positions to continue this important work. Rev. Nancy Hauser, Kathy Haut, and Debbie Carter were employed as FCC staff chaplains. Dale Williams was later employed as the week night chaplain and in 2004, grants from Massey Cancer Center and the Heart Center resulted in the employment of part time staff chaplains Tim Ford for Palliative Care and Angela Duncan in Cardiology.
In 1997, MCV Hospitals became a public authority with its own board, headed by Virginia Commonwealth University’s President, Dr. Eugene Trani. At that time, faculty remained state employees with CPE residents becoming hospital authority employees. The University and hospital entered a Clinical Education and Service Agreement (CERSA) through which Patient Counseling faculty provided education and service to the hospital. This arrangement was retained when MCV Hospitals and MCV Physicians partnered to form a Health System on July 1, 2000. The new clinical enterprise was renamed Virginia Commonwealth University Health System.
From 1998 to 2000 the Program in Patient Counseling completed a comprehensive curriculum review resulting in the long awaited approval of a Master of Science degree in Patient Counseling. The degree opportunities include dual-degree arrangements with both the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University and the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond.
In 1999 Dr. Cecelia Williams resigned and in 2002, Rev. Marlyne Cain retired after more than 20 years as an ACPE Supervisor. Also in 2002, Dr. Janet Humphreys was employed as an Assistant Professor and ACPE Supervisor. Marlyne Cain returned to the faculty on a part-time basis in 2004. Dr. Young retired in the fall of 2005 and Dr. Mark Cooper joined the faculty as an Associate Professor and ACPE Supervisor. In the summer of 2005, Dr. Tartaglia was appointed Associate Dean of the School of Allied Health Professions and the department was restructured with Dr. Humphreys assuming responsibility as the Education Coordinator and Ken Faulkner assuming responsibility as the Clinical Manager. In 2006, Ken Faulkner was appointed Director of Pastoral Care and Stephanie Hamilton became the FCC team leader. In 2009, Ken Faulkner, who teaches Clinical Ethics, assumed more teaching responsibilities in the School of Allied Health Professions and Rev. Hassell became the Pastoral Care Department's Clinical Manager. In the summer of 2008 Dr. Mark Cooper succeeded Dr. Tartaglia as the chair and in 2009 Rev. Angela Flack became an Assistant Professor and ACPE Supervisor and the education coordinator for the Program in Patient Counseling, filling the position previously held by Dr. Humphreys who resigned in 2007.
In 2004, Rev. Rosalind Bradley, who completed her residency at VCUHS in 1998, joined the faculty as an adjunct faculty and as a supervisory student she set up the contracted placement site in Petersburg at Southside Regional Medical Center. From 2004 until 2007, Rev. Bradley supervised CPE students while also serving as the Director of Spiritual Care at Southside Regional Medical Center. In 2007, Rev. Bradley returned to VCU as an Assistant Professor and in 2010 she was certified as an ACPE Supervisor.
The Program in Patient Counseling has fostered the following satellite and placements sites: Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, a satellite center, from October 2001 to May 2006; Mary Washington Hospital, Fredericksburg, VA, a placement site from fall 1995 to spring 2009; and Southside Regional Medical Center in Petersburg, VA, a contracted placement site from the fall of 2004 until fall 2009. In anticipation of the department's new track in the School of Allied Health Professions' Doctoral program in Health Related Sciences, which was approved in the spring of 2007, Dr. Diane Dodd-McCue was hired as an Associate Professor in 2006. Rev. Angela Duncan, who completed her CPE residency in our program in 2004, was accepted as the first doctoral candidate in the fall 2007. In 2010, the Patient Counseling track of the School of Allied Health Professions' doctoral program had two students in the dissertation stage as well as a member of the new 2010 student cohort.
In the summer of 2009, the department entered into a partnership with St. Paul's Episcopal Church in downtown Richmond for a parish based CPE program with church members who work in the downtown Richmond area. This affiliation continued in the summer of 2010. In the fall of 2009, the department began its first distance learning program at New College in Abingdon, Virginia and Memorial Hospital in Martinsville, Virginia, with nine Level I and one Level II CPE students and one Supervisory Education Student. The long distance learning program continues to provide educational opportunities for interested students in the Abingdon and Martinsville areas.
In 2010, the Program in Patient Counseling experienced several significant changes. One of these changes involved the Program in Patient Counseling becoming "The Department of Patient Counseling." In addition, two endowed positions were created through gifts from the Robert and Katherine Lantz family. Rev. Robert B. Lantz was a Lutheran clergy and an Association of Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisor, who received his training at MCV in the 1960s. Rev. Lantz served as the Chair of the Pastoral Advisory Committee for a number of years and supported the development of the Master´s Degree Program in Patient Counseling. When he died in 2008, his wife, Katherine Lantz, completed his hope for an endowed Chair of the Department of Patient Counseling and she provided a foundation gift to create a professorship in her name. Dr. D. Mark Cooper, who became Chair of the Program in Patient Counseling in 2008, was named the first Robert B. Lantz Chair of the Department of Patient Counseling and Dr. Alexander Tartaglia was named the Katherine I. Lantz Professor of Patient Counseling.
The Program in Patient Counseling and the Pastoral Care Department continue to seek ways to improve services provided to the hospital community and to academia.
