Hospital Chaplains Encouraging Valley Residents to Make Health Care Wishes Known

HARLINGEN – Hospital chaplains at Valley Baptist Medical Center not only visit and pray with patients, but are also available to help patients and family members with documents such as advanced directives in which they can make their wishes known about their healthcare decisions.

In fact, the Valley Baptist chaplains will be available to help the general public complete these forms, at no charge, on Thursday, April 16 at Valley Baptist-Harlingen, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon in the hospital’s East Tower Lobby (facing Treasure Hills Blvd.) and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the hospital’s South Tower Lobby, 2101 Pease Street in Harlingen.

In Brownsville, chaplains will be available on Friday, April 17 from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville, 1040 W. Jefferson at Central Blvd. (in the main Stillman Lobby, on the first floor of the Brownsville hospital).

“We are holding this event as part of National Healthcare Decision Day,” said Valley Baptist Chaplain Christian Hall, BCC. “Through this nationwide effort and through local education, more and more people are realizing the importance of verbalizing their health care wishes in writing.”

Chaplain Hall added that while Valley Baptist contacts hospital inpatients to inform patients of their right to complete advance directives, the National Healthcare Decision Day event on April 16 allows the chaplains to “reach out” to more people and offer assistance.

For more information on services offered by Valley Baptist chaplains in Harlingen – including help with advanced directives and bereavement support groups — please contact the Valley Baptist Pastoral Services Department at (956) 389-1194, or e-mail [email protected] or [email protected]. In Brownsville, please contact Chaplain George Colon at (956) 698-5426 or at [email protected].