Hamilton chaplain featured in DVD for Chattanooga area chaplain organization

Published 12:21 pm Friday, August 19, 2011

Ken Waddell, Hamilton Medical Center chaplain, is featured in a promotional video for Chattanooga Area Clinical Pastoral Care (CACPC).

Waddell has served as a chaplain at Hamilton for about three years. He became the full-time chaplain in early 2011.

CACPC is the regional organization that supports Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). The organization provides a combination of education and clinical experience that is mandatory for professional chaplains. CACPC received full accreditation in 1988 from the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education Inc., the standard-setting, accrediting and certifying agency nationally recognized for this purpose by the U.S. Department of Education.

“I attended the annual CACPC banquet recently and was pleasantly surprised to see they had featured me, along with three other chaplains — all CPE alumni — in a promotional DVD,” said Waddell. “I was honored.” About 100 professionals, mostly physicians, counselors and chaplains, attended the banquet.

Waddell was involved in CACPC for 14 months as a student, resident and senior resident chaplain. He completed four different CPE units, each with a unique set of learning goals, clinical assignments and peer group learning. In addition, he had clinical experience with Jim Herman, Hamilton Hospice chaplain, and Hamilton Hospice’s Interdisciplinary Team.

“I’m proud to be an alumni of CACPC,” said Waddell. “I’m delighted to express my gratitude to CACPC as I continue to put my own learning into practice with all of the associates, volunteers and community members who are part of Hamilton.”

Waddell graduated from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, with a dual major in communications and sociology, prior to completing four years of graduate education and a master’s of divinity at the Graduate Theological Union in the San Francisco Bay area. After 25 years in traditional parish ministry, Waddell agreed to become Hamilton’s chaplain.   

As Hamilton’s chaplain, Waddell serves patients, family members and Hamilton associates in difficult times in their lives. He facilitates a brief chapel service on Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. in Hamilton’s chapel just off the front lobby, as well as a weekly prayer time for associates.

“It’s an honor to serve as chaplain of what I believe is one of the best-kept secrets in the state of Georgia — Hamilton Medical Center,” he said.