Milwaukee VA chaplain earns national accolades

Robert Allen, head of chaplain services for the Milwaukee VA Medical Center, has been named as the Distinguished Chaplain for VA by the Military Chaplains Association. He will be honored during a ceremony this weekend in Columbia, S.C.

Only one chaplain from all of VA receives this award each year, according to the Rev. William D. Razz Waff, executive director of the MCA. There are 811 chaplains in VA.

“Chaplain Allen is the VA chaplaincy unicorn — truly one of a kind,” Waff said, citing Allen’s “warmth and enthusiasm for chaplaincy” and saying Allen is “well deserving of this singular honor.”

The Rev. Kimberly Willis, national director of the National VA Chaplain Service, agreed with Waff. In fact she nominated Allen for the award.

“He’s done some amazing innovations that I haven’t seen in other places,” Willis said. “He thinks outside of the box, and he’s the first to raise his hand when we have a pilot program we want to do. He is uniquely deserving of this most distinguished award.”

In her nomination, Willis called Allen a “stellar leader” who has “transformed the medical center’s chaplains program from a narrow focused (religious services) team to a comprehensive treatment and support activity for both Veterans and employees.”

She enumerated several initiatives Allen has helmed:

• Expanded religious services to cover nights and weekends.
• Inclusion of chaplains on the hospital code teams.
• “Tea for the Soul” and “Hydration Station” respite programs that allow front-line works to decompress and share their feelings.
• Moral injury training for various external organizations.
• Creation of the Blessed Sacrament room, a quiet area open to anyone seeking solitude.
• Community outreach efforts, including a symposium in April 2022 that brought together more than 60 religious communities to discuss ways to better meet Veterans’ needs.

“Chaplain Allen’s every energetic moment is intentioned on the building, restoring, healing and renewing of the human spirit,” Willis said. “His desire is that every person is whole and flourishing.”

Allen said he was “honored and extremely humbled” when told of the award, but he was quick to deflect from himself.

“It’s not my award; it’s a team award,” he said, citing his fellow chaplains who have eagerly embraced new projects and outreach events. “I can have all the vision in the world, but without a solid team, none of this could have taken place.”

He also credited the Milwaukee VA’s leadership for giving the chaplain service “a seat at the table.” Before Allen took the reins in 2021, chaplains “were never in any of the meetings or discussions” regarding the hospital’s “complexities and challenges,” he said.

And when Allen asked to be included at the table, leadership gladly obliged and challenged Allen and his team to be innovative and to pursue their dreams.

This was during the height of COVID, and one of Allen’s first goals was to help staff battling burnout and stress brought on by the pandemic, which led to “Tea for the Soul” and “Hydration Stations.” He also put emphasis on better meeting the needs of Veterans and their families and looking at ways to engage the community as well.

Before long, chaplains became more visible. They were hosting events and taking part in numerous activities:

• The Advent season saw a daily series of vignettes by staffers, sharing what they loved.
• Music groups offered concerts in the chapel.
• A springtime “ruck march” brought Veterans to the campus for a hike that doubled as education on how to bolster mental and spiritual resiliency.
• “Movies with the Chaplain” brought about 60 Veterans to the casual event.
• A “Friends and Family” picnic last month boasted some 200 attendees.

“We are connecting with employees and Veterans very differently,” Allen said. “Chaplain service needs to be personable to all we encounter, and this is the fruits of that.

“I’m super grateful to our (leadership) for … seeing us as a force multiplier in changing the culture,” Allen said. “My idea is to engage, and my comments to the chaplains all the time is, ‘Let’s just try it.’ If it doesn’t work, we can do something different. It seems that all the things we’ve tried have stuck.”

Jim McLain, executive director of the Milwaukee VA Medical Center, agreed, lauding Allen and his staff for “changing the dynamic of chaplain service so that it is engaging on all fronts.”

“He asked, ‘Can I do these things?’ and our answer was, ‘Absolutely yes,’ because everything he wanted to do was the right thing for taking care of our Vets.

“We have a greater community presence because of him … and he has been a force in employee engagement. I think that has made a huge difference in addressing some of the stress issues with our employees.”

Allen noted that the highly visible events chaplains lead aren’t detracting from the personal, spiritual work. One-on-one meetings with Veterans and families who are struggling still occur, and chaplains stand ready to provide pastoral care and counseling.

“Chaplaincy, by definition, is to walk alongside with someone on their journey,” he said. “Anyone who comes here, (we say), ‘How can I help you where you are?’ Before the end of the visit, typically they’ll say, ‘Can you pray for me?’ and that leads into a whole different conversation about faith, spirituality and where they are.”

McLain acknowledged that, noting that Allen’s reach extends beyond religion and spirituality to encompass helping “the whole person. It’s spirituality, community, mindfulness and well-being. He is a force multiplier, focusing on taking care of ourselves, and that’s been a huge difference.”

Willis said Allen is uniquely deserving of the award.

“He’s receiving it because of who he is,” she said. “He’s attuned to opportunities where there might be some gaps and he boldly walks through those gaps. What he’s doing with employees, Veterans and families is amazing.”