If you had asked a young Krister White what he saw in his future, chaplaincy would never have crossed his mind. Now, as the current Director of Spiritual Care for Parkland Health, Krister considers his career path a revelatory experience. 

“There was something about being with people in times of tremendous pain. I felt fortunate to get to be there with them as they were saying goodbye to loved ones… and I liked who I was becoming in those relationships,” he reflects. 

Parkland’s Spiritual Care team provides an indispensable service for people as they face some of life’s most difficult moments. Regardless of religious background, Spiritual Care services are available to anyone who walks through Parkland’s doors. Krister emphasizes that “we don’t represent any specific faith tradition as a department. We are here for people of all faiths and no faith.”   

Along with supporting the patient population, chaplains play a significant—and often overlooked—role in supporting healthcare workers who must inevitably deal with the compounding stress of their daily responsibilities. 

“Our chaplains… have very good relationships with the staff on their floors,” Krister notes.  

He estimates that his employees spend around a third of their time providing care for the workforce alone. “We do many things, including conflict mediation between staff and patients. We also provide considerable workforce support. I think that’s something we are not well known for.” 

Additionally, chaplains offer their support in other respects that both include and transcend emotional and spiritual matters.  

“We work closely with patients and loved ones related to educating about and helping to execute advance directives, including medical powers of attorney, living wills, and out of hospital DNR’s,” Krister explains. “We want to make sure that, just in case this person is unable to make decisions for themselves, they have a clear plan for the physician or for their loved ones about what they would like if they were unable to communicate for any reason. We try to make it a meaningful dialogue.” 

Spiritual Care professionals are an essential part of a patient’s healthcare team, especially when navigating delicate topics such as making arrangements for end-of-life care or selecting a medical power of attorney. 

Although Krister is now in a more administrative role, he is committed to developing and educating future chaplains and educators. Alongside Manager, Spiritual Care Education, Mary Stewart Hall, he oversees the department’s 65-year-old Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Program at Parkland that serves as a training environment for chaplain interns, residents, and those seeking certification as ACPE certified educators. Krister’s dedication to providing quality guidance to his students is rooted in his desire to support evidence-based practices in the Spiritual Care Department. 

“All disciplines within the medical community function according to evidence-based practices,” Krister notes. “Chaplaincy did not historically follow that trend, but in the last 20 years or so there’s been a huge push within spiritual care as a discipline to help chaplains to familiarize themselves with the research base in our field.” 

With the help of a $20,000 grant made possible by the John Templeton Foundation to increase research literacy in CPE Programs in 2017, the Spiritual Care Department has been able to elevate the level of care it provides to patients and their families using data-driven assessment techniques to more accurately identify areas of greatest need within the hospital.  

Still, there is more work to be done, especially in a large-scale facility such as Parkland.  

“The area of greatest need right now is in the emergency department. We have no chaplain dedicated to that space despite having the busiest ED in the country,” Krister states. 

While chaplains still respond to all codes and traumas, having a designated chaplain would be a tremendous help to patients and medical professionals alike who all benefit from spiritual care services. However, the Spiritual Care Department faces the challenge of being a non-revenue-producing department.  

“I think as the needs in the county grow, we’re going to need more staff,” Krister says. “The work that we do is important, and I think that our staff understand that our patients and their loved ones appreciate it.” 

With more funding, he hopes that one day Parkland will be able to contribute to the growing body of knowledge being produced about the significance of spiritual care as a part of advancing wellness and relieving suffering. This research could have far-reaching impacts on healthcare systems beyond Parkland Health. 

Today, Krister and his team continue to work towards advancements in spiritual care services at Parkland in support of everyone in the Dallas community. 

Learn more about Spiritual Care services at Parkland Health.