Chaplain Larry Geiger is seeking clergy members willing to volunteer their time to become part of a group of chaplains for the Hospice of North Central Florida Lake City office. But Hospice of North Central Florida is seeking clergy willing to take on the job of giving time to those facing a life-limiting illness. Geiger was director of pastoral care at St. Francis Hospital in Columbus, Ga., and was endorsed by the Chaplains Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention to serve as a clinical pastoral resident at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. Hospice is a nationally known, non-profit agency available to individuals with a terminal disease and a short life expectancy.
Services are free and there are no age limitations for care.
Volunteer chaplains will work as a group with trained professionals, including a social worker and a physician. Geiger, who will lead group meetings twice a month to discuss each patient, said the team will work together to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the individual and his or her family. After an initial screening and interview, Geiger will train the volunteer clergy members to counsel not only terminally ill patients, but also their family members and friends. But tending to the needs of the sick and dying involves more than learning counseling skills. Volunteer chaplains will be trained in discussing death, dying and final arrangements with patients and their family members.