Erlanger Palliative Care
Providing Spiritual Care
As the first-ever full-time chaplain at Erlanger Palliative Care, Reverend Bobby Fleck provides spiritual and emotional support for those who need it most. “I am open to being with people in whatever expression they find themselves, from laughing to crying and from singing to silence,” shares Reverend Fleck. After feeling God calling him to spiritual care in August of 2021, Reverend Fleck never looked back. “I knew when I started as an intern that being a hospital chaplain was exactly what God wanted me to do,” says Reverend Fleck.
If you can find the intersection between what you are good at doing, what wakes you up in the morning, what the world needs most, and what you are called to do, you will never work a day in your life.”
My Credentials
Certifications:
Clinical Pastoral Education Residency Graduate, Association of Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc.
Ordained Minister, International Ministerial Fellowship
Integrated Behavioral Health, Kennesaw State University
Trust-Based Relational Intervention Practitioner, Texas Christian University
Recognitions:
First-Ever Full-Time Chaplain, Erlanger Palliative Care
Board Chair, Catoosa County Division of Family and Children Services
My Specialties
Chaplaincy
Spiritual Care and Counseling
Bereavement and Grief Counseling
Crisis Debriefing
1. Can you tell me a little bit about your profession? What does your day-to-day look like?
As a chaplain for Palliative Care, I offer spiritual and emotional support for patients (and their families) who are diagnosed with a serious illness. As I provide care, my hope is to understand and meet the emotional and spiritual needs of others, which means I may listen, talk, pray, sing, read, hold a hand, sit quietly, or hold space for someone privately.
2. What would you consider to be your main strengths?
As an extrovert, probably my greatest strength is my initiative to make a connection with others in a way that establishes trust and mutuality.
3. What is your best advice for patients?
The best advice I can offer for patients is to be present and experience the feelings of the moment. Be curious about your feelings and feel your feelings. Ask yourself: What am I feeling? What are my feelings telling me?
4. What’s the key to making a great first impression?
Smile with your whole face and make eye contact with kind eyes.
5. Do you believe in miracles? Why or why not?
I have seen miracles and received miracles, so I can testify to the reality of miracles; it is more than just belief for me. I have triplets, 12-year-old girls, who daily remind me of the existence of miracles. I know miraculous things can and do happen every day, and I often get to share in those miracles with others.
- 423.778.2867
- 979 E 3rd St., Suite C-925, Chattanooga, TN 37403
- erlanger.org/palliative
