The CPE program at Vassar begins in late September and continues through April. It consists of a minimum of 400 hours broken down by 300 clinical hours visiting patients on assigned units; and 100 hours of supervised ministry and classroom training. CPE also requires each intern to fully participate in evening and weekend emergency on-call with an in-house response time of 30 minutes. On-call responsibilities include carrying the pager covering shifts in the evenings and on weekends on a rotating basis divided among the group. The CPE intern will spend 4 hours per week in group learning, and 10 hours per week in the hospital providing spiritual care to patients, their families and staff. The hospital hours are flexible to the student's schedule balanced with serving the needs of the medical center. Group meetings will be on weekdays, usually Tuesdays. Each student will have ten hours of individual supervision during the course. The weekday afternoon group time will include: clinical presentations by students, topic seminars, and a group process seminar each week. The number of students accepted into this program is limited to eight. A unit of ACPE credit is granted to students completing this program. 

Our Director of Spiritual Care Services is Rev. John Simon, M.Div., MTS, BCC, ACMC-III. Rev. Simon oversees the mentoring, scheduling, unit assignments and day to day operations ensuring the spiritual care needs of the institution are met. Our ACPE Supervisor is Rev. Trudi Hirsch, a representative of HealthCare Chaplaincy based in New York City. Rev. Hirsch is responsible for the Tuesday's clinical didactic sessions as well as group and individual supervision. As a team, they provide balance in the fluid dynamic environment of healthcare chaplaincy.