Our mission focuses on the Jesuit tradition of cura personalis—care of the whole person.
In the spirit of cura personalis, we are pleased to provide a variety of services to make our patients and visitors feel welcomed and appreciated.
MedStar Georgetown provides medical interpreters to assist patients and their families with limited English proficiency or who are Deaf or hard of hearing. These services are provided at no cost to the patient.
When scheduling your hospital appointment or medical procedure, please let us know your preferred language and we will accommodate your need. When calling the hospital or your doctor's office, our staff will connect you with a language interpreter as needed.
You may also contact Language Services at language.service@gunet.georgetown.edu
Cuando programe su cita en el hospital o un procedimiento médico, por favor, háganos saber su idioma de preferencia y haremos las adaptaciones necesarias. Cuando llame al hospital o la oficina de un(a) doctor(a), nuestro personal lo conectará con un intérprete cuando sea necesario.
Usted también puede contactar al Servicio de Idiomas al language.service@gunet.georgetown.edu
Every patient has the right to determine how vigorously he/she wants to pursue life-sustaining measures when the end of life is near. The resources below are intended to provide comfort and guidance for these very personal decisions.
The advance directive document provides guidance for power of attorney, living will, and other wishes.
Put It In Writing is a Web resource in Spanish and English that provides hospitals and consumers with easy-to-use, helpful information on advance directives.
The Aging with Dignity website offers information needed to discuss issues with your family using clear terms on difficult end-of-life subjects.
These directives and orders provide answers to common questions in both English and Spanish regarding end-of-life issues to help patients decide what they want. They offer a starting point for patients considering end-of-life healthcare. These resources are not comprehensive of every issue facing patients, nor are they intended to provide legal or medical advice. If you have additional questions regarding your end-of-life healthcare preferences and/or appropriate documentation, you should consult with your healthcare provider and/or your personal attorney. MedStar Health does not endorse, nor does it accept responsibility for, the content provided in external links.
In addition to your physical health, MedStar Georgetown also cares about your spiritual needs. Our chaplains are available 24-hours-a-day to you and your family and can be paged by your nurse.
The Pastoral Care department is located on the first floor of the Main Hospital building near the chapel. To contact a chaplain, or to arrange for a visit from a representative of your own faith, call 202-444-3030 Your personal clergy can park for free when they visit you. The chapel is open at all times for prayer and reflection.
Catholic Health Care in the Jesuit TraditionMedStar Georgetown University Hospital belongs to a long and rich Catholic and Jesuit tradition of caring for the sick. Jesuits have always ministered to the sick. Over the years, several thousand Jesuits gave their lives while serving plague victims. To prepare others to serve the sick as well, Jesuits founded their first medical school over 400 years ago.
Jesuits understand care of the sick as a continuation of the healing ministry of Jesus, who healed the sick and called on his disciples to continue that work as integral to proclaiming the gospel. Jesuits see care of the sick as a vocation, a call to serve. The richness of that call gives work in health care a special dignity and meaning. More than a job, health care is a ministry.
The Catholic hospital strives to be a sign of God's continued caring and healing presence. As a Catholic hospital, MedStar Georgetown aspires to be a community of service - in Jesuit language, a community of "men and women for others."
The overriding value for a Catholic, Jesuit hospital is the dignity of the human person - understanding the person as having his or her origin, purpose and destiny in God. MedStar Georgetown is committed to treating patients, family members and employees in accordance with that dignity.
The Jesuit tradition teaches care for the whole person and a commitment to the psychological, spiritual and social - as well as the physical - well-being of those we serve. Attention to the spiritual gives the Jesuit institution an inter-faith perspective and respect for the varied expressions of the spiritual in people's lives.
Jesuits also have a 400-year-old intellectual tradition of research and scholarship, and of participation in the dialogue between science and service, and between technology and faith. The quest for excellence flows from Jesuit dedication to working for "the greater glory of God and the welfare of humanity," a sentiment carved on the cornerstone of the Main Hospital building. In that spirit, Jesuits put scientific excellence at the service of people in need.
Jesuit spirituality holds that God is to be found in the events of our lives, and so in every phase of sickness and health. At MedStar Georgetown, we strive to see in every ailing man, woman and child not only human vulnerability but divine availability. The crucifixes that hang on our walls remind us not just that God suffered in Jesus, but that God in the flesh is to be found wherever any of us is wounded and whenever any of us comes to his or her aid.
