The Steinbach and Area Ministerial Association, along with Southern Health, are excited to announce the hiring of a new interim Spiritual Care Provider at Bethesda Regional Health Centre.

Gary Dyck will take over from Lydia Summerville-Dueck who will be on maternity leave until 2025.

Stan Friesen, chairman of the Bethesda Chaplaincy Advisory Committee says, “We are excited about Gary coming on and caring for our community. He's got a variety of faith and cultural diversity backgrounds in ministry and service, and so we're excited about Gary coming on and serving our diverse community.”

Friesen notes that “as the previous executive director at the Mennonite Heritage Village Museum, Dyck also brings a deep value for heritage and community well-being. He loves people, listening to their stories, and meeting them where they are at in prayer.”

Friesen explains the role of a Spiritual Care Provider. “Their role is to care for the residents at Bethesda Place. We have a number of residents who would be their main focus. But also, if you go to the Bethesda Hospital Emergency In-patient, and request a visit from a Spiritual Care Provider, Gary will come and see you and pray with you, encourage you. Or if you have another faith background, he will come and he will try to connect you with those faith backgrounds.”

Friesen says as Chairman of the Bethesda Chaplaincy Advisory Committee, he works closely with a member of the Steinbach and Area Ministerial Association, and a member of Southern Health. Together the three of them take care of and give some direction to the Spiritual Care Provider position or Chaplaincy position.

“At this point we've been calling Lydia Summerville-Dueck a chaplain, and we're moving towards the Spiritual Care Provider, so the title is changing. But it's a unique partnership between the Steinbach and Area Ministerial and Southern health.”

Friesen adds, “We share the salary 50/50 between the two organizations. And it’s been a really neat and well-working relationship with Southern health.”

Friesen notes that Dyck will remain interim until Summerville-Dueck returns from maternity leave. “That's the plan at this point. And so, we'll see what happens in the next year and a half, and take things as they come.”

Friesen says that Dyck began his orientation on May 6th with Summerville-Dueck and officially began on Monday, May 13.