Solace for the Spirit at Ochsner

Solace for the Spirit at Ochsner

Spiritual care is an essential part of the healing process—and Ochsner’s spiritual care program offers guidance for patients in need

By George Menz | Photos: Beth Burris

When we find ourselves in moments of darkness, it’s natural to look for the light. Ochsner Health recognizes the impact and comfort that spirituality and religious faith can have during a patient’s recovery. The Spiritual Care Services Team at Ochsner hospitals embrace Ochsner’s mission to support patients in all aspects of their healing.

“Ochsner has a 360-degree view of people, and spirituality is a big part of that,” said the Rev. Dr. Megan Alleman, Board Certified Chaplain and Supervisor of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). “How do people make meaning of their life? How do people find community? These are all really important parts of the healing journey.”

Rev. Megan Alleman, DMin, Supervisor of Clinical Pastoral Education

Photos: Beth Burris

Megan’s journey to Ochsner began shortly after completing her own training to become an educator of chaplains. Trained in Oklahoma, she came to Ochsner looking for a healthcare system whose mission dovetailed with her own goal of expanding spiritual care.

“I was looking for a place that would match my values,” Megan said. “A big reason I came to Ochsner was because they really wanted to be a part of that vision and very quickly allowed me to expand the program to meet the needs of clergy all over the states of Louisiana and Mississippi.”

In her role as CPE supervisor, Megan is able to witness the various journeys chaplains can take toward becoming spiritual care providers. As Megan shares, every chaplain has their own story of how they end up where they are.

One chaplain, the Rev. Tiffanie Lyon, has a remarkable story of becoming inspired and feeling a calling to ministry as a vocation after working in business. She then became a licensed local pastor and pursued a master’s of divinity. During her last year of the program, her senior pastor suggested that she take a unit of CPE. On the second day of her full-time internship, she realized: “This is what I want to do.”

Rev. Tiffanie Lyon, Chaplain, OMC - North Shore

Photos: Beth Burris

Her experience with CPE was transformative, and she soon enrolled in a CPE residency. She worked at Ochsner Medical Center - New Orleans during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and graduated with her master’s degree in June 2020. It was then she decided to dedicate herself to working as a hospital chaplain and accepted a staff chaplain position at Ochsner Medical Center - Northshore in Slidell.

“I love the one-on-one connection that comes with being a chaplain. Just the humanity of it and how sacred it is to sit with someone, talk with someone, be present with someone who is at their most vulnerable state,” Tiffanie said. “The honor and privilege to share that space with someone is very sacred to me.”

Donors offer substantial support to spiritual care at Ochsner. The Dolly Ann Johnsen Fund is the largest source of funding for the program, providing two salaries for chaplain residents. The Johnsen family established the fund when they saw that Ochsner had no chaplains who were able to offer the holy sacraments to patients.

“I think Dolly would be proud of us, and the way her money supports us,” Megan said.

In addition to providing salaries to chaplains, the fund has supported the construction of Ochsner’s Interfaith Pastoral Care Center, which serves as a holy space for any kind of service. During Spiritual Care Week in 2022, the program launched an interfaith spirituality service, which will connect staff, patients and other guests, giving them a moment to pause and reflect on their spirituality.

Another fund, the Pastoral Care Endowment, supports one of the five chaplain resident positions at Ochsner and covers tuition for the 13 current students in the program. “The Clinical Pastoral Education Program couldn’t exist without the donor funds,” Megan said. “We wouldn’t have as many students as we have now if we didn’t have those funds.”

These donor funds make it possible for a diverse group of chaplains to provide spiritual care to patients in the most difficult moments of their lives. Tiffanie cited a statistic that only 62% of hospitals nationwide have paid staff chaplains, relying instead on local priests and pastors, who may not be able to speak to patients with diverse spiritual backgrounds.

“The more able we are to get trained, qualified staff chaplains, the better service we’re providing for the diversity of the patients that we have,” said Tiffanie. “We can’t do this without donor support.”

Ultimately, the spiritual care program at Ochsner strives to put the patient first, and give them the individual support they need. In Megan’s words: “Spiritual care is about loving people on their terms.”