ELCA Chaplains, Counselors, Clinical Educators Minister to Victims

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- On Sept. 11, when terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center in New York and damaged the Pentagon near Washington, emergency personnel thronged to the sites from around the country. Chaplains, pastoral counselors and clinical educators of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) assisted local clergy and lay leaders.
"Several ELCA chaplains were among the first to respond to the terrorist attacks in New York," said the Rev. Donald A. Stiger, ELCA director for specialized pastoral care and clinical education. "Trauma ministry centers were established at two major hospitals, and chaplains were closely involved in ministering to burn victims, injured persons and their families."
"As the flow of trauma victims slowed, chaplains and clinical pastoral education (CPE) students could be found ministering to those standing in long lines to report missing loved ones. This ministry became known as 'working the lines' and took several shifts," said Stiger. CPE is graduate-level instruction in pastoral care, usually conducted in a hospital or other health care facility.
"Meanwhile, the Lutheran Counseling Center in New York began finding its waiting area jammed with people off the street seeking help in their shock, fear and grief. Other chaplains were involved in ministries at the armory and through the American Red Cross," said Stiger.
At his office in Chicago, Stiger has gathered daily reports of ELCA clergy and lay ministers involved in specialized pastoral care ministries, responding to many of the needs the terrorist attacks created.
The Rev. Daina K. Salnitis serves Lutheran Church of the Apostles, Atlanta. With experience as a police chaplain in California and Georgia, she is certified in critical incident stress management. The National Transportation Safety Board and American Red Cross trained her to serve on their Aviation Incident Response (AIR) Team, which is first to respond to a commercial airplane crash.
On Sept. 12 Salnitis was called to New York, said Stiger. "She served at the armory, working with distraught family members; she has assisted at the temporary morgue; and she has rotated through duty cycles ministering at Ground Zero," he said.
"Several of our chaplains and CPE supervisors, trained in Critical Incident Stress Debriefing, are part of a special team working with the American Red Cross. They have been deployed to New Jersey and other areas to extend ministry to traumatized families and others," said Stiger.
The Rev. Vernon M. Flesner, chaplain and CPE supervisor, Providence St. Peter's Hospital, Tacoma, Wash., joined other ELCA caregivers, "accompanying grieving family members on ferryboats to Ground Zero, being with them as they spend time there and assisting them in getting death certificates," said Stiger.
The Rev. Ray E. Dice, director of pastoral care and CPE, Covenant Health Care, Saginaw, Mich., and Flesner were deployed to the New York area as AIR Team members.
The Rev. Dianna L. Cox, chaplain, MultiCare Health System, Tacoma, Wash., was sent to Washington to provide pastoral care ministry within the Pentagon.
The Rev. Claude V. Deal Jr., retired chaplain and CPE supervisor, Duke University Hospitals, Durham, N.C., served two weeks as chaplain of the Washington Disaster Center. "He carved out a ministry of care for non-Pentagon workers who lost associates in the attack on the Pentagon," said Stiger.
The Rev. J. Vincent Guss Jr., chaplain and pastoral care director, Inova Alexandria Hospital, Alexandria, Va., established pastoral care sites in the Washington area and managed a 24-hour counseling hotline.
Stiger said the ELCA Division for Ministry has been working closely with Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) since Sept. 11. "This new partnership has been mutually beneficial" for LDR and the division's department for specialized care ministries, he said.
LDR is a ministry of the ELCA and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. It helps coordinate immediate and long-term recovery efforts when disasters occur anywhere in the United States and Caribbean. It also provides care, counseling and assistance to survivors and their families.
Stiger said LDR has been working with Church World Service to create a "Spiritual and Emotional Coordination Center" -- a way of identifying and deploying persons for a variety of caregiving ministries.
"Over the extensive period of recovery ahead, qualified chaplains and pastoral counselors will be needed, particularly in New York," said Stiger. Several other certified and qualified pastoral care and counseling volunteers are registering with him, making themselves available should their skills be needed.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html