Providing emotional and spiritual support for patients and families during a trying time, pastoral care offers support and guidance from concerns that arise from health issues 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition to prayer and scripture reading, pastoral care services include:

• Rituals, sacraments and practices of faith
• Spiritual support concerns related to end-of-life matters
• Religious practice that may have an impact on decisions regarding medical care and compliance with treatment
• Questions of meaning and adjustment to the crisis of an illness, both acute and chronic
• Loss and grief
• Ethical and moral dilemmas
• Support through the course of treatment
• Lifestyle changes occasioned by illness or injury
• Contacting patients faith community