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Pardee cuts chaplaincy director post

By Bill Moss, Published: August 24, 2014

Pardee Hospital has eliminated its chaplaincy director position in a cost-cutting and administrative streamlining move.
The hospital cut the fulltime position, held for many years by the Rev. Charles D. Kirby, and transferred supervision of the volunteer chaplains to its manager of auxiliary services.

"We were kind of looking at some support services that had some duplication and we restructured it just a little bit to flatten out the management," said Adam Fisher, a hospital spokesman. "The program itself is not ending. The only non-voluntary position has been moved over" to Auxiliary Services Manager Karla Reese, who also supervises junior and adult volunteers including the service corps known as "the pink ladies."
"It's unfortunate, but at the same time he had been eligible for retirement for some time," Fisher said. "We decided to eliminate the position and he decided on his own to retire."
In an email to the chaplaincy corps, Kirby urged the volunteer counselors to continue their work providing a valuable service to hospital patients and families in crisis.
The job was eliminated "as part of the hospital's continuing efforts to maintain a stable standing in an increasingly difficult health care climate," he said.
"All of us in the Chaplaincy Department hope you will be willing to continue your volunteer services as associate chaplains, which should not be affected by this change. Our calling to serve patients and families in crisis is still important to the community and a valuable witness to God who calls us."