Tending to your spiritual and emotional needs
An integrated and important part of the HackensackUMC Mountainside healthcare team, our chaplains are available to provide counsel and support to loved ones, caregivers and patients, regardless of religious affiliations.
Creating a caring presence throughout the hospital and the community, we:
- Visit patients
- Counsel families
- Participate in ethics and prognosis consults as needed
- Serve on the Palliative Care Committee
- Participate in public events with appropriate prayer services
- Support the Mountainside bereavement group
- Offer spiritual and emotional support to patients, families and staff
- Support and assist clergy and ministers who visit their congregants in the hospital
For our Catholic patients, we offer daily communion in addition to Catholic mass on the following days: Monday, Thursday and Friday at noon in the chapel, Sunday at 3:30 p.m. in the auditorium. Scripture services are held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at noon in the chapel. The HackensackUMC Mountainside Interfaith Chapel is available to people of any faith. A Shabbat Room is available for use by our Jewish patients and their families.
| Month |
Annual Event |
2013 Dates |
| January |
Martin Luther King, Jr. Prayer Service |
January 21 |
| February |
Ash Wednesday Services at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. in Bayberry; Mass at Noon in the Bayberry; and Distribution of Ashes throughout the hospital |
February 13 |
| February and March |
Stations of the Cross prayed in Chapel 3 p.m. |
February 15, March 1, 8,
15, 22
|
| March |
"Dr. of Calvery"-a powerpoint presentation with music and reflection created and presented by Rev. Jim White, from Seton Hall Prep. Auditorium at 2:30pm for general public |
March 29 |
| April |
Good Friday Service in Chapel at Noon |
March 31 |
| June |
School of Nursing Graduation and Residents Graduation |
|
| November-December |
Salvation Army Helping Hands Collection for the Holidays |
Late November/
Early December |
| December |
Christmas Mass at 4 p.m. in the Auditorium |
December 24 |
| December |
Anticipated Mass for Mary, Mother of God, at 4 p.m. in the Auditorium |
December 31 |
Helping Hands Christmas Drive:
Making the holidays a little brighter
In 2004, at the initiation of the then-CEO Renee Kessler, the Pastoral Care Department reached out to the Salvation Army with an offer of assistance during the Christmas holiday season. The rest is history. Each year, the office contacts a social worker at the Salvation Army and asks her to compile a list of families who might need some help at Christmas. Lists include the family members by gender and age, to protect the identity and retain the dignity of the families, and suggestions of what each needs. This information is then disseminated throughout the departments of the hospital and each family is "adopted." Each year including Christmas 2012, the number of families increases. We help between 35 and 43 families each season, thanks to the generosity of the hospital staff.
Chaplains
Catholic
Rev. Thomas M. Cembor Director
In Office: Thursday to Tuesday
973-429-6047
Beeper: 1-877-404-6229
Cell: 973-768-9383
E-mail: Thomas.Cembor@mountainsidehosp.com
Jewish
Mrs. Pearl Lebovic
Home: 973-849-6418
Cell: 973-652-4549
Protestant
Rev. Edward A. Clydesdale
In Office: Tuesday to Thursday
973-429-6000 Extension 5048
E-mail: Edward.Clydesdale@mountainsidehosp.com
Other Important contacts
Metrowest Jewish Federation
Mrs. Cecile Asekoff
973-929-3168
Bereavement Group
Robin Greenberg
973-680-7899
For more information contact, Rev. Thomas M. Cembor, D. Min. at 973-429-6047.
Email: Thomas.Cembor@mountainsidehosp.com