Kelly Spahr

• Serve as an outpatient neuro-palliative chaplain, serving on a multidisciplinary team caring for patients and families dealing with neurogenerative disorders
• Provided spiritual guidance, emotional support and direct care to residents, family members and staff.
• Met with individuals, discussed issues compassionately and determined appropriate type of involvement to meet spiritual needs.
• Interacted with local community, building relationships with civic organizations and other churches.
• Resolved problems, improved operations and provided exceptional service.
• Participate in interdisciplinary meetings and educational opportunities
• Successfully completed and became certified in Pain Reprocessing Therapy in 2024
• Participate as a chaplain in the COPE-PD research project on Parkinson’s Disease and care partner support, and represent the department at URMC and community educational and informational offerings through dynamic public presentations, education and collaborative efforts.

• Serve as an overnight/weekend chaplain, providing spiritual support to all patients, families, and staff and responding to adult and pediatric trauma and other acute patient and family needs, as well as referrals.
• Provided spiritual care through visitation, counseling, and prayer.
• Provided spiritual guidance, emotional support and direct care to residents, family members and staff.
• Applied knowledge regarding crisis interventions to assist in emergency situations.

• The Managed Care Liaison is responsible for ensuring a highly-coordinated approach between Hillside and LDSS (Local Departments of Social Services) and Medicaid Managed Care Plans (MMCP) to help monitor and support access to health care for children in foster care
• Successfully communicated with entities inside and outside of business.
• Helped meet changing demands by recommending improvements to business systems or procedures.
• Collected and analyzed data and feedback to identify opportunities to improve relationship between other entities and business.
• Educated staff on organizational mission and goals to help employees achieve success.
• Optimized customer experience by delivering superior services and effectively troubleshooting issues.
• Conducted regular reviews of operations and identified areas for improvement.

• Serve as an advisory consultant to a community-based clinical pastoral education (CPE) organization
• Create and maintain policy documents, provide consultation for Level 1 chaplains to advance to Level 2
• Assist with evaluation of promotional materials, website development, educational opportunities for students, and admission and exit interviews.
• Acted as a team leader in group projects, delegating tasks and providing feedback.

• As a Board Certified Chaplain, (BCC), I evaluated simulation exams and documentation for chaplains seeking to become board certified
• Reviewed video exams, evaluated progress, and provided ongoing feedback as part of a team of SCA leaders.

• Served as a trauma response chaplain for homicides, suicides, missing persons, and other traumatic events
• Provide spiritual support to victims, families, police officers, and other first responders as needed
• Participate in regular meetings with the Mayor, Chief of Police, and other staff and community clergy to proactively plan for providing spiritual support during incidents.
• Interacted with local community, building relationships with civic organizations and other churches.

• Provided dynamic spiritual and administrative leadership in the Hospice program
• Coordinated spiritual care counseling to hospice patients and their families
• Ensured integration of spiritual care into the work of the interdisciplinary patient care team
• Led ethical and spiritual consultative guidance to clinical staff
• Provided clinical supervision and mentorship to staff chaplains and volunteers
• Developed and implemented quantitative and qualitative measures for evaluating the effectiveness of Chaplain interventions through regular patient chart auditing
• Represented the agency and hospice program at community educational and informational offerings through dynamic public presentations, education and collaborative efforts
• Led pastoral care volunteer recruitment and training activities in conjunction with hospice volunteer manager
• Developed new training materials for both volunteer and staff chaplains.
• Launched quality assurance practices for each phase of development
• Established performance goals for employees and provided feedback on methods for reaching those milestones.

• Served as a per-diem overnight/weekend chaplain serving the hospital on an on-call basis
• Promoted to part-time and then full time contract chaplain serving all units and working closely with the Palliative Care team, as well as continuing on-call overnight and weekend shifts
• Served as acting manager when manager was out on leave for several months
• Supplied spiritual care for diverse religious needs of patients, family and staff such as grief and bereavement support.
• Visited and counseled patients, families, and staff concerning death and dying by providing direct spiritual care.
• Responded to code blues and other emergencies to verify patient identity and engage and support family.
• Participated in regular clinical staff huddles for Palliative Care and ICU units, family meetings, and education of various units regarding spiritual care offerings
• Provided interfaith pastoral care and support to patients, families and staff
• Conducted spiritual assessments and charted clinical notes
• Co-created a monthly staff spiritual care rounds with the director of pulmonology.

• Served as a Contact Tracer Supervisor as part of the NYS Department of Health Contact Tracing Initiative
• Managed a team of 20+ contact tracers, training them on CommCare, Amazon Connect, and clinical documentation; assigning and managing up to five counties per day for both case contact and traveler call volumes
• Provided leadership, virtual team-building, organization, ongoing training, and supervision on a daily basis
• Created documentation best practices for my team, with a small group of healthcare clinicians; communicated regularly with local county DOH staff to facilitate management of travelers and case contacts under precautionary/mandatory quarantine
• Move fluidly between other counties and overseeing other teams as needed, based on the needs of the workflow and schedule
• Developed a flexible and proficient team of tracers who are able to move between counties easily
• Worked closely with our School Specialists and other disciplines as needed.
• Investigated and identified confirmed and suspected coronavirus cases, also documenting potentially affected contacts.
• Provided educational and informational resources regarding isolation policies and quarantine measures.
• Collaborated with local organizations to expand health services and resources.
• Evaluated employee performance and coached team members, increasing quality of work and employee motivation.

• Coordinated all 6th-12th grade programming, instruction, and special events
• Worked collaboratively with ministry staff, church council and committees, and congregants to create church-wide vision, mission, and religious education opportunities for youth and adults
• Recruited, trained, and supervised volunteer teachers
• Responsible for mentoring youth with various mission projects locally, regionally, and nationally.
• Built rapport with teenagers and guardians by delivering engaging Sunday school lectures and hosting events for youth ministry members.
• Utilized excellent organizational and communications skills to coordinate and motivate volunteers.
• Oversaw youth ministry budget and tracked all expenses.

• Facilitate communication and advocacy work across New York State, partnering with progressive Christian, Jewish and interfaith congregations to promote social justice in local and state legislation
• Use various social media platforms for promotion and outreach, and work collaboratively with local ministers and community organizers.

• Served as a case manager in the Guest House, an emergency homeless shelter, working closely with Department of Social Services
• I also served Project Redirect/Shelter Care Plus as a case manager, interfacing with Rochester Housing Authority, and providing ongoing case management to formerly homeless clients who also have a disability.
• Monitored clients' progress and tracked client services to provide crisis interventions.
• Developed and implemented comprehensive case management plans to address client needs and goals.
• Assisted clients in navigating housing, legal services and public benefits to gain access to valuable resources.

• Collaborated with Rochester-based Metro Justice and other community, health, labor, and migrant worker groups to support hearings for single payer insurance in New York state.
• Wrote and distributed informational papers, gave out representative contact information and educated community members about specific issues.
• Liaised with political organizations and initiatives to confirm consideration of community best interests within campaigns and political agendas.

• Served as the Acting Director of Religious Education, managing curricula, scheduling and training 35 volunteer teachers, providing reports to the Board of Directors and RE Committee, and managing a social work intern from Syracuse University.
• Sourced, modified and prepared class curricula and targeted lesson plans based on subject matter requirements.
• Hired, mentored and supervised instructors and volunteer staff to carry out program goals.

• Served Neonatal ICU, Cardiac ICU, Cardiac Transplant, and Geriatric Psychiatry
• Was deeply engaged in trauma chaplaincy in this Level 1 Trauma Hospital, as well as attendance and participation in Ethics Rounds from a variety of disciplines in intensive and palliative care
• Provide training for medical staff on advance directives and participated in Systems Theory training regarding socio-economic, race, and class diversity.
• Created and used spiritual assessments for crisis management, intervention, bereavement and chemical dependency.
• Counseled employees requesting emotional or spiritual support.
• Participated in didactic sessions and education seminars.
• Officiated special services such as weddings, funerals, baptisms, and nursing home services.
• Provided spiritual care through visitation, counseling, and prayer.
• Met with individuals, discussed issues compassionately and determined appropriate type of involvement to meet spiritual needs.

• Utilized the database to communicate with over 50 volunteer religious education teachers and maintain registration of over 300 youth
• Cataloged and organized educational materials and archives and managed weekly communication with all teachers and the Director of Religious Education in order to facilitate all teacher and student needs
• Simplified and developed annual mailings and our program brochure, provided feedback for our RE safety policy, and was involved in program development visioning and implementation.

• Lead writer for sales and service quarterly print magazine, Connect
• I developed intranet content for the communications department, designed and wrote online magazine content, and edited and created graphic design.
• Organized material to research and complete writing tasks.
• Utilized exceptional writing, editing, and proofreading skills to produce engaging and error-free content.
• Wrote and edited high-quality content and visually impactful programs under deadline pressure with exciting, captivating, and authentic approach.
• Customized brand message to reach and capture target audience interest and drive engagement.

• Developed a training program for volunteer chat hosts, in addition to managing chat schedules and personnel issues for more than 75 hosts and four paid staff
• Provided customer service, created and maintained over 100 community and content pages both on AOL and the corresponding web pages, using Citrix and Access
• Created a promotional schedule for all chats and wrote an award-winning weekly newsletter.

• During my years at Stepping Stone Transitional Living Program, I assisted with teaching youth living skills through one-on-one and workshop activities; served as a case manager for residential and non-residential clients by assisting with referrals, case planning, counseling, and working closely with other community organizations such as Children & Youth Services, employers, schools, law enforcement and social service agencies
• As program manager, I supervised and trained all paid, AmeriCorps and volunteer staff; provided oversight of all state-mandated record-keeping; wrote annual grant proposals; and prepared promotional materials
• During this time, I still met regularly with residents and provided as-needed counseling and case management oversight.

Chair of committee to endorse chaplains for board certification through BCCi. Work collaboratively with interview committee, organization administration, and with candidates to support them in acquiring endorsement for board certification.