HealthCare Chaplaincy Network Joins Sharecare as New Content Collaborator to Educate Consumers on Spiritual Care, Palliative Care, End of Life

NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sharecare, a comprehensive health and wellness engagement platform, and HealthCare Chaplaincy Network (HCCN), a global leader in spiritual-related education, research and clinical care, today announced that HCCN has joined Sharecare's vibrant community of experts as a content collaborator.

Through Sharecare's interactive platform, HCCN will provide easily-accessible and consumer-friendly information online about spiritual care, palliative care, and end of life. These topics are applicable to all disease states and all population segments, including people who are healthy or living with chronic or terminal illness.

The collaboration comes amidst growing evidence that spiritual health is a vital component of overall wellness and whole person care, and as multi-disciplinary health care providers increasingly focus on palliative care to improve quality of life for people with serious illness.

"We are excited that Sharecare is giving HealthCare Chaplaincy Network a dynamic platform to provide education and guidance about spiritual care, palliative care, and end-of-life care. This information can help facilitate critical conversations among patients, family members, and health care providers, and empower individuals to better manage their care, and find hope, comfort and meaning during times of need," said Eric J. Hall, HCCN's president and CEO.

HCCN's presence on Sharecare expands access to the nonprofit organization's experts and resources, and builds on its recent efforts to extend the reach of spiritual care beyond the traditional hospital bedside. HCCN content posted on Sharecare addresses practical, spiritual and emotional issues, including advance directives, palliative and hospice care, spiritual distress, the role of chaplains, finding comfort near end of life, and grief. It links to HCCN's online resources for consumers (www.soulcareproject.org), such as free counseling by professional, multi-faith chaplains, prayer requests, and spiritual self-assessment tools and exercises.

"When faced with illness, suffering or the grief that surrounds the death of a loved one, many people need advice not only about end-of-life care but also spiritual guidance, regardless of their beliefs," said Russ Johannesson, chief operating officer of Sharecare. "We are honored to add the HealthCare Chaplaincy Network to our family of content partners to provide our users with the knowledge, expertise and compassion the organization has provided to so many for more than 50 years."

Recognition of the importance of spiritual care's integration into health care is on the rise.  "Dying in America," a 2014 consensus report by the nationally-acclaimed Institute of Medicine, found that, "Ideally, health care should harmonize with social, psychological and spiritual support to achieve the highest possible quality of life for people of all ages with serious illnesses or injuries."

A number of research studies show that the majority of Americans say that spirituality, in some form, should be an important consideration in their health care. Yet one study showed that 72 percent of patients said their spiritual needs were minimally or not at all supported by the medical system even though spiritual support was highly associated with quality of life.

Visit HealthCare Chaplaincy Network's page on Sharecare.com at:
https://www.sharecare.com/group/healthcare-chaplaincy-network

About Sharecare 
Sharecare is a health and wellness engagement platform that provides people with personalized resources to help them live their healthiest lives. Nearly 40 million people have shared more than 5 billion data points about their health status and habits with Sharecare, which uses that information to create a comprehensive health profile allowing users to access all of their health resources in one place, and dynamically connect to the knowledge, evidence-based programs and health professionals they need. Created by Jeff Arnold and Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2010, Sharecare's predictive and personalized platform is accessed daily by millions of consumers, including viewers of The Dr. Oz Show, patient populations of the country's leading hospital systems and every soldier in the United States Army.

About HealthCare Chaplaincy Network  
HealthCare Chaplaincy Network is a global nonprofit organization that offers spiritual-related information and resources, and professional chaplaincy services in hospitals, other health care settings, and online. Its mission is to advance the integration of spiritual care in health care through clinical practice, research and education in order to increase patient satisfaction and help people faced with illness and grief find comfort and meaning—whoever they are, whatever they believe, wherever they are. For more information, visit www.healthcarechaplaincy.org, call 212-644-1111, and connect with us on twitter and Facebook.

Media contact
Carol Steinberg
[email protected]
212-644-111, ext.121

SOURCE HealthCare Chaplaincy Network