Chicago VITAS offices:
Chicagoland Northwest
580 Water’s Edge Drive, Suite 100
Lombard, IL 60148

Chicagoland Central
1340 S. Damen Ave., Suite 200A
Chicago, IL 60608

Chicagoland South
600 Holiday Plaza Drive, Suite 200
Matteson, IL 60443

With three hospice programs in the Chicago metropolitan area, VITAS cares for 1,000-plus patients and families in this ethnically diverse area and offers the opportunity for ministering to people from many different cultural and religious backgrounds. Students may be placed in any of the three VITAS programs, each offering several clinical settings for spiritual care: visiting in private homes, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and inpatient hospice units.

CPE students function as chaplains and members of a hospice interdisciplinary team. They are supervised not only by the CPE program but by the VITAS management team and mentor-chaplains. Verbatim reports of pastoral visits are presented along with VITAS documentation. Seminars focus on palliative care, family systems and theological reflection through the use of stories, interpersonal relationships, grief dynamics, etc. Individual and group supervision fosters personal and professional growth.

Tuition: $500. A $100 deposit fee is required upon acceptance to hold a place in the program. The deposit is applied to the total tuition.