Pediatric Chaplain Services
Spiritual Support for Children and Families Coping with Illness
Through our team of chaplains, the Loyola Medicine Children’s Hospital at Loyola University Medical Center offers interfaith spiritual support for families coping with the illness or injury of a child.
Chaplains help families who are searching for meaning and hope in dealing with illness, loss, grief and change. They also provide support to families faced with ethical decisions regarding continuing or discontinuing treatments.
Loyola Medicine’s experienced chaplain team has offered prayers, counseling and spiritual support to thousands of patients. At Loyola, you are served by a Catholic Jesuit healthcare provider committed to the promotion of health and healing of the mind, body and spirit. We welcome and offer spiritual care to people of all faiths.
Chaplains will visit with families upon request. A chaplain is available at the hospital 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to provide services that include:
- Assistance contacting clergy in the local community
- Baptism, dedication or blessing of a child
- Celebrating weekly religious services
- Confidential discussion of difficult ethical questions
- Help with kosher and other dietary observances
- Memorial services
- Offering communion to families in the hospital
- Response to crises and emergencies
Loyola’s chaplains also conduct bereavement support groups for parents who have lost a child and for children who have lost a sibling.
An interfaith chapel is available 24 hours a day at Loyola University Medical Center and Gottlieb Memorial Hospital. Both chapels offer regular services, as well as services on major holy days.
To reach a member of Loyola’s chaplaincy staff, speak with your child’s nurse or call 877-216-5437 and ask for chaplain services. Chaplain services are provided to patients and their families free of charge.