In the latest edition of Caring for the Human Spirit Magazine, SVOTS Alumna and Board Certified Chaplain Clio Pavlantos writes about her experience as one of the first outpatient chaplains in the long history of New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK).
Pavlantos’s reflection, “The Role of Self-Care in Establishing the First Outpatient Chaplaincy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center,” appears in the Fall/Winter 2018 publication of Caring for the Human Spirit, a magazine dedicated to advancing the integration of spiritual care in health care.
“When I arrived, the outpatient Breast Service had no tradition of chaplaincy. Most of the staff…had never worked beside a chaplain, and many had no idea what chaplains did,” Pavlantos wrote. “I was starting from scratch, facing confusion and outright skepticism from some staff.”
She goes on to relate how her educational presentations and exercises with initially reluctant nurses led to better ministry to the nurses themselves, not just to patients.
“Staff began to see how self-care in turn improves patient care and began to understand that they need to care for themselves as they provide care for patients.”
Clio Pavlantos is currently staff chaplain at the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast and Imaging Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She received her M.Div. from St. Vladimir's Seminary in 2012 and holds a chaplain endorsement from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
