Health Calls Season 6, Episode 8 centers a conversation about mission integration and the formation of the next generation of health care workers. Host Brian Reardon and Executive Producer Josh Matejka are joined by Chip Chipman, Manager of Pastoral Care and Mission Integration at CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System.
Health Calls Season 6, Episode 8 centers a conversation about mission integration and the formation of the next generation of health care workers. Host Brian Reardon and Executive Producer Josh Matejka are joined by Chip Chipman, Manager of Pastoral Care and Mission Integration at CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System, who reflects on the role of spiritual care as a core element of whole‑person care and how it extends beyond chaplaincy to every member of the care team.
The episode explores how students and new clinicians are introduced to Catholic mission, ethics, and values through relationship‑building, case studies, and real‑world engagement. Chip also discusses how technology, including e‑chaplaincy, can expand access to spiritual care while reinforcing the importance of presence and human connection. Together, the conversation highlights how Catholic health care can prepare future caregivers to lead with compassion, courage, and integrity.
Brian Reardon (00:05):
Welcome to Health Calls, the podcast of the Catholic Health Association of the United States. I'm your host, Brian Reardon, and with me is Josh Matejka, a podcast executive producer. Hey, Josh.
Josh Matejka (00:15):
Hello, Brian.
Brian Reardon (00:16):
So on this episode, and again, the theme for this season is United for Change. We're going to be talking with a colleague about mission integration and the next generation of health care workers. So Josh, as we tee up this episode and we bring in Chip Chipman, Manager of Pastoral Care and Mission Integration for CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System, before we bring in Chip, tell us a little bit about how this topic came to your attention and why you thought it would make for a good conversation.
Josh Matejka (00:44):
Yeah. Well, I think one of the things that we end up talking a lot about on health calls, whether it was last year with artificial intelligence and technology and humanity or this year with United for Change, a lot of it ends up coming back to whole person care. And a part of whole person care is spiritual care, which Chip will have a lot of great insight to and how spiritual care plays into the next generation of health care workers. But this is a topic that gets covered a lot at CHA. We work a lot with Jill Fisk, one of our colleagues, and the National Association of Catholic Chaplains is one of our big partners that we co-host a lot of events with and develop a lot of resources with. I know we're in the works right now on a really cool world day of the sick resource and event that people should keep an eye out for.
(01:31)
But spiritual care really plays very cleanly into the idea of whole person care because everybody has a spirit, regardless of what they believe and when they come to our facilities, regardless of whether or not they're Catholic or what they believe, there is a spiritual component to the care that we provide. And as Catholic health care, we want to make sure that that is being taken care of into the future. And we know when we met Chip and the way that he talked about how spiritual care and mission integration gets worked into these relationships that are being developed with not just future chaplains, but future nurses and future clinicians, I was really encouraged by the relationships that he's developing and the relationships that Christus is developing with those around them, whether it's in universities or whether it's other health care facilities. So I'm really excited to have Chip on the show and for him to offer his perspective on how that next generation is being trained up and being taught to think critically about the mission element of health care.
Brian Reardon (02:40):
Great. Well, let's go ahead and bring in Chip. Chip Chipman, again, Manager of Pastoral Care and Mission Integration for CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System Chip. Welcome to the show.
Chip Chipman (02:49):
Hi there. Glad to be here. Thanks for the invitation.
Brian Reardon (02:52):
Yeah. And as Josh, I think was kind of setting up was, I guess a good way to start the conversation really is at spiritual care, we think of that as being, again, someone who works in pastoral care, a chaplain, but really in Catholic health care, everyone who's caring for patients, whether it's at the bedside or supporting role, has to have a good basic understanding of our mission and values. And like Josh said, what it means to deliver whole person care. So I think as a place to start the conversation, as you look in your role of making sure people are well versed in the spiritual aspect of the care we provide, you've really looked at folks that are younger professionals who are coming in, could maybe join your team. So maybe start by talking about how you develop relationships with, as Josh mentioned, schools in the area that are training, educating nurses and other clinicians.
Chip Chipman (03:49):
It's been an exciting part of being here at CRISTUS St. Michael and learning how to be a part of the education, but also the formation of the next generation of new nursing teams. Because I think we can all remember back when we were either in college or maybe an internship or when we were doing our first job, those kind of nerves, health care being one of the highest regulated and rural stricken industry, it might be overwhelming already. And so I think pastoral care, certainly spiritual care, as Josh had offered, to be that welcoming presence, not just for patients and staff, that is our primary focus. That's always been our primary mission. But I think to continue to look outward in a very Pope Francis, now Pope Leo kind of way to look into where can Catholic health care, where can spiritual care rush into to make things more manageable?
(04:58)
And so I really enjoy the activity of bridging a gap between, let's say, academic theory and clinical reality, being able to meet them where they're at, being able to speak some of their language as nurses and to maybe help them understand what is our role in terms of being chaplains within the health care system. Again, with Catholic health care, I think in general has a grand opportunity to be present and to engage both with students, but also as the larger and local community, because it's such a strong dimension in our mission and spiritual identity. But at Christus St. Michael in particular, we actually sit right on the border of four states, of about four states. And that allows us to serve not only a diverse population across these state lines, but also provides a rich learning environment for students from a number of these universities.
Brian Reardon (06:02):
And exposing them to the spiritual dimension of care, can you talk us through how that was ... Was that a gap that you identified with some of these colleges and universities that are training them? And I guess as a nursing student goes through the coursework, how much are they exposed to, again, pastoral care chaplaincy? And was that an area you identified to say, huh, there's an opportunity here to really broaden their understanding of what we do?
Chip Chipman (06:32):
Absolutely. I think that the more that we can be present to show them that we are more than saying a prayer, right? It is the core, literally, core, the heart, it is what we do, but there is more to it just as with any family, that it's more than what you see, the family life, the love, the different events, all of the things that go into living that vocation. So too does it play out in pastoral care. So just like compassion, dignity, excellence, these are not just Catholic or even Christian values, that these values are universal. And so when we can then present and be a part of their education, their learning, and be able to say, what does compassion look like for you? It's one of Christus's core values, but to be a good nurse, that compassionate would be one of the most important values to learn, to imitate Florence Nightingale.
(07:44)
So we have an opportunity, I think, to take dogmatic ideas of what maybe spiritual care or chaplaincy is and translate it into a way that is applicable for these new nurses to learn. Chaplains are really helpful.
Brian Reardon (08:02):
Yeah. They're part of the team and important members of the team. So what has been the reaction, particularly from maybe nurses who didn't grow up Catholic or not Catholic, don't have a whole lot of base of knowledge about Catholic social teaching. What kind of feedback have you heard from some of these nurse students that you've engaged with?
Chip Chipman (08:22):
That's a great question. I think throughout the community, it's one of those very common frequently asked questions that we get that, wait, I don't have to be Catholic to be a chaplain. I don't have to be a priest or a sister or a nun. No, you don't. That part of what we get to do, of course, we know that chaplains being at the bedside with patients and families is that most fundamental kind of support, that emotional support, that spiritual support and being someone ... Chaplains are highly trained. Most of them have a master's degree in theology and MDIV, possibly four units of CPE or maybe even be board certified. So there's an opportunity, I think, too, to kind of expose what goes into making a chaplain? What goes into the kind of care that we learn? Because I think most nursing students would agree that they get into health care because they want to help and heal someone, so to do chaplains.
(09:34)
As
Brian Reardon (09:34):
Again, you have conversations, you provide these opportunities a space for, again, we'll just use the nursing students. I think you were saying there's some other clinical students also that you've reached out to.
Chip Chipman (09:47):
Yes. We're one of just a few facilities that have nurse residents. So these are hired nurses that go into a little bit more of a in- depth training. So we are able to provide a kind of faculty education, especially with ethics. Ethics is one of those fields that continues to develop, especially with AI ethics. Josh mentioned that in the beginning. We have a new seventh edition of the ERDs that we are going through right now. So there's all these different things that go into what makes up ethics. So I thoroughly enjoy being a part of that faculty because I get to ask the question, the very first question, what do you think it is?
Brian Reardon (10:40):
What's a common answer?
Chip Chipman (10:42):
Doing the right thing.
Brian Reardon (10:44):
Okay, good.
Chip Chipman (10:45):
And we like to expand on that a little bit more because it's doing the right thing for the right patient at the right time. That we want to show that ethics, there is a generality to it, but there's also an individuality as well that we can't just have ... And that's why the ERDs being a directive, not law. They provide guidance, but sometimes it's not as clear cut. And that's why then to have a mission leader, to have myself as a pastoral care manager, to have a truly interdisciplinary team, that is what I'm excited that CRISTUS has. But then to expose both student nurses and nurse residents to the idea that you're not in this alone. And while it might be overwhelming, there might be some moral distress, we go through that a lot. How do we identify it? How do we work through it?
(11:40)
This gives us, again, an opportunity to say, "We are here." It's like, "Well, no one wants to answer." So I often say, "We have five core values, but our sixth core value is courage. We got to speak." But by the time we get to case studies, so it's a great way for me to stop talking and to invite a true conversation. So we have case studies that provide conversation around beginning of life, end of life, professional relationship. We follow the ERDs in that sense, but we give them something that they can speak to. So for example, I believe one of the case studies has maybe a 50-year-old with newly diagnosed end-stage renal disease. And because they can't work on their farm, they want to employ hospice. They've tried dialysis, but it's too much. They don't want to do it and they want hospice, and that's it.
(12:43)
That's all you get. So then we have the oppportunity, I say, "I'm going to stop talking and I want to hear from you guys. What kind of questions, if you're the bedside nurse, if you are maybe the case manager nurse, maybe the physician, maybe you're the attending, or maybe you're the patient or family, what kind of questions come to mind?" By doing it in that fashion, I think it really allows them to apply a few of the ERDs that we may have covered or maybe some of the Catholic social teaching or maybe some of the core values because they're all connected. And I think by the end of our presentation then, they see ethics as not some kind of amorphous confusing and I'll never need to use that, but they see it then as a committee, a council, a friend, an ally, a helper to navigate through some of these things that might come up when they're taking care of their patients.
Brian Reardon (13:46):
And the technology piece, again, a lot of these students, we're going to just have to assume are very tech savvy, probably more so than someone like me. The e-chaplaincy, we've heard about that from some of our other members, but maybe for the benefit of this conversation, describe what that's like. And again, you kind of touched on this earlier, but it's a way to make chaplaincy more accessible.
Chip Chipman (14:10):
One of the things that we know is staffing's always a concern. We want to be good stewards of our resources. So one of the ways that we did that is we came up with a way to communicate instantaneously. So from the public CRISTUS website, there is christushealth.org/echaplaincy, and you're able to then submit a request for prayer. Maybe you want to connect with someone via email, maybe they want to talk over the phone about something that's going on, or maybe it's something even less severe, and maybe we want to talk about advanced directives. It's simply giving us another avenue for communication, being present, being there when someone needs to Google something, that many of these requests that come in are across all of our ministries, but instantaneously through the efforts of Microsoft and AI and everything, that it's able to send it directly to the chaplain at the facility that the user is closest to.
Brian Reardon (15:27):
Nice. Wow. No, this has really been good stuff in describing the engagement that you have with these students. So we'll bring Josh back into the conversation for any final thoughts or questions.
Josh Matejka (15:38):
Yeah, Chad, thank you so much for your perspective on this. One thing that I keep thinking about as you're talking is the old cliche that learning is a two-way street. And as you're working with young health care workers and students, one of the things that I'm thinking about is what opportunities are you seeing to learn from them about the next generation of health care workers, what they're concerned about, what their expertise is, and then how do you take from that and then learn for yourself and for your team how mission and how spiritual care can be integrated into that. So that's not really a question. I guess what the question is, is what are some things that you're seeing and you're learning from the young workers and the young students that you're working with that we at Catholic health care, that we might need to think about moving forward and how we integrate mission and spiritual care into that work?
Chip Chipman (16:38):
Yeah, absolutely. That's a great question. I think we're probably going to be using COVID as some kind of meter from now on. 2020 is just going to be pre- COVID and post- COVID. One of the things that I think came from that, one of the great benefits, and if we can use that word, is we were propelled into the digital age very quickly. We had Zoom became more a household name, Teams quickly caught up. All these different functions became more and more available. I believe chaplains then also jumped in and allowed maybe FaceTime with patients via iPads. Now that we're five years away from that, I think one of the greatest challenges that I've seen and heard from new nurses is how do we reconnect? So yeah, we've got the digital, we've got the apps, we've got the computer. What else do we have? I feel like I'm a little bit older now too.
(17:48)
I may have passed on and I like which applications I use and any new updates, I start to get a little-
Brian Reardon (17:55):
It becomes too much, right? Yeah, there's so much.
Chip Chipman (17:58):
But I think with our new generation, what are we going? I think we're going into gen beta now. One of the things that I think Catholics health care in particular is able to then answer is the human need for touch, both by the touch the spirit as well as even physical touch, being present and making sure that we do not replace one-to-one communication using preferred language, maybe a commit to sit so that we can be eye to eye with a patient or family or even another staff member, that we can put down our phone and we can simply be with them. I mean, that is such a core dimension of what Catholic health care is and how we meet people where they're at. Yes, we need to rush into the future with AI and all these different applications because it will make health care more accessible with Epic and the MyChart and being able to be more available and all these things, but we can't forget where we come from and that is just simply being present with someone and that great need I think maybe needs to be retaught so that we do not burn out.
(19:25)
So many of those studies that come out from the hourly and daily use of technology, we're not wired for the screen. We want to be with someone. We want to look at someone in their eyes and experience a smile and even hear a hearty laugh because it's just contagious. But I think then that could be a great role for chaplains. It can be a part of mission integration. Let's go back to the basics. Let's review United for Change. Sure. Let's also make sure that change doesn't change where we come from.
Brian Reardon (20:09):
Well said. No, I think the power of presence, and again, that sacred encounter that is what health care is all about. Again, we're talking with Chip Chipman, Manager of Pastoral Care and Mission Integration with CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System. Chip, thanks for being with us and sharing your insights. Really good conversation.
Chip Chipman (20:26):
Thank you, Brian. Thank you, Josh. Appreciate your time. This was a great opportunity to share both what we're passionate about and all the work that our teams do for the next generation of health care workers.
Brian Reardon (20:39):
And this has been another episode of Health Calls, the podcast of the Catholic Health Association. I'm your host, Brian Reardon. Our executive producer is Josh Matejka. Our scheduling producer is Sarah Marchant. Health Calls is produced here at Once Studios in St. Louis, and you can access health calls from the CHA website and that's chausa.org. Just go to the top of the page under news and publications and you can access both current and archived episodes of the show. Of course, Health Calls can also be found on all of your favorite podcast streaming apps. And if you do go to one of those apps, we would encourage you to subscribe to Health Calls. And of course, if you like what you hear, please give us a rating, provide some comments. We'd love to hear from you. And as always, thanks for listening.