Chaplain service

 The William S Middleton VA Chaplain Service provides spiritual care through visitation and counseling as requested by patients. Chaplain Service enables Veterans to freely exercise religious faith in a way that promotes healing and helps the Veteran face the crisis of hospitalization. Veterans may call Chaplain Service directly or request a Chaplain through their health care team.

Caring, competent and respectful spiritual care is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you wish to contact your personal religious leader, we are happy to help if needed. Our department is committed to a culture of caring and committed to helping patients utilize their spirituality as part of the healing process. We work with all people without regard to spiritual belief and/or religious tradition.

Chaplain Care

Chaplains are available to assist patients and their family members through inpatient, outpatient and extended stay care.

VA Chaplains are clinical pastoral care specialists, fully integrated into the health care team and trained to provide counseling and support to persons of all faiths (as well as non-religious people). The journey through illness can call into question the very purpose and meaning of life, whether one is laboring through an extended recovery process or negotiating the last days of life.

A growing body of research indicates that patients who are spiritually active experience faster healing, better coping with disability, diminished pain, and overall report a better quality of life. The chaplains will inquire about special cultural, grief or religious needs and, if desired, will help the patient access community clergy or spiritual care providers.

Chaplain Services offers:

• Annual Service of Remembrance
• Bedside visits for acute care patients
• Bereavement/Grief and loss care - Grief groups and individual counseling for Veterans and staff. Specialized grief support is available to those who have lost a friend or loved one.
• Care and support during emergencies.
• Community presentations regarding the spiritual needs of Veterans
• Group and Individual Pastoral Care & Counseling - Chaplains understand that life is a journey, and that sometimes we all need individual spiritual support along the way.
• Chaplains are available to support you spiritually through whatever is going on in your life. We are here for our Veterans, and we believe it is an honor to walk the journey of life together.
  • Substance Abuse group meetings through the VA Addiction Treatment Program
  • Moral Injury Group
  • Spirituality Groups
• Help to understand and make decisions about tissue/organ donation
• Help with decision making or just listening as you work through problems or options
• Hospice Care/End of Life
• Mental Health Chaplain Care (Inpatient/Outpatient)
• Offer choices for outside resources, scheduling, referrals
• Outpatient Chaplain Care
• Palliative Care
• Telehealth - Chaplains are able to provide spiritual support to Veterans in local and most rural communities through VA Video Connect. The process is very simple. You will receive an email with a link that will open up the video chat room. A chaplain will join that video chat and lock the video chat room so that nobody else can enter. You will then have a private conversation with the VA Chaplain.
• Transplant Care
• Veteran, family, and staff support - Chaplains understand the importance of having the support you need, when you need it. We facilitate various groups in multiple locations to best serve and support our Veterans.

Caring for Patients and Their Loved Ones

For patients or a patient's loved one, a hospitalization may raise profound spiritual questions:

Who am I in the midst of illness?

What is my responsibility for my own well-being?

What does "healing" mean?

Do I have a reason to go on living?

Where is my Higher Power/God in all of this?

These questions are a normal, even necessary, part of moving through any illness.

Religious Literature

Religious literature is available by asking a Chaplain or in the Chapel office (B1060).

Chapel (Interfaith)

A non-religious specific chapel is located on the first floor of the hospital. It is open 24 hours a day. There is room for wheelchairs. Enter for prayer or meditation. Protestant Worship Services are at 10 a.m. on Sundays and Catholic Mass is at 1:30 p.m. 

William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans' Hospital
First floor
Interactive map of Madison VA Hospital campus

Contact a chaplain

For more information, please call our chaplains at 608-256-1901, ext. 17546.