RANDOLPH, Vt.—To offer support to help cope with the pressures of the upcoming holiday season, Gifford’s volunteer Chaplaincy Program invites community members who have experienced loss and grief to attend a free workshop. Titled “Making It Through the Holidays,” the workshop will be held on two dates, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16, and from 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 4, at Menig Nursing Home at Morgan Orchards in Randolph Center.
The workshop is inspired by members of the program’s ongoing support group. They plan to share and invite reflection on their own experiences as they made their way through painful holiday periods and personal anniversaries.
“With such major holidays as Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s approaching, those who have experienced a significant loss in their lives may find themselves crushingly overwhelmed by all the cultural and social expectations raised around these occasions,” said the Rev. Timothy Eberhardt, spiritual care coordinator for the Chaplaincy Program. “Our personal need to grieve may feel brushed aside and dishonored with painful results.”
Eberhardt will facilitate the workshop with Gifford Volunteer Chaplain Anna Mary Zigmann, RN, an ordained minister and spiritual care provider specializing in trauma and loss. In addition to the workshop, Eberhardt and Zigmann facilitate “Living Through Loss,” a grief support group from noon to 1:30 p.m. every Friday in the Gifford Medical Center Chapel in Randolph. The weekly group is open to anyone who has experienced loss.
Refreshments will be served during “Making It Through the Holidays.” For more information about the Oct. 16 and Dec. 4 workshops at Menig, or the weekly support group at Gifford, email or call 802-728-2107.
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Gifford is a community hospital in Randolph, Vt., with family health centers in Berlin, Bethel, Chelsea, Randolph, Rochester and White River Junction, and specialty services throughout central Vermont. A Federally Qualified Health Center and a Top 100 Critical Access Hospital in the country, Gifford is a full-service hospital with a 24-hour emergency department and inpatient unit; many surgical services; a day care; two adult day programs; and the 30-bed Menig Nursing Home, which was named by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best 39 nursing homes in the country in 2012. The Birthing Center, established in 1977, was the first in Vermont to offer an alternative to traditional hospital-based deliveries, and continues to be a leader in midwifery and family-centered care. The hospital’s mission is to improve individuals’ and community health by providing and assuring access to affordable, high-quality health care in Gifford’s service area.
