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The Salvation Army recently made meaningful contributions to the first annual Spring Training Conference of the Orange County Chaplain’s Association, numbering 155 members. Hosted by the Anaheim Police Department, the conference attracted police, fire, hospital and jail chaplains from 25 local agencies. OCCA Vice Chairman Warren C. Johnson of the Tustin Ranch Corps was one of three conference leaders.
The conference offered 24 hours of training dealing with the role of police chaplains in various fields, including crisis counseling, domestic violence, chain of command and incident command system, death notifications, car stops, accident scenes, safety procedures, critical incident stress debriefing, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), death and dying, and the role of the police chaplain in the field.
The OCCA welcomed Captain Carol Seiler, Southern California Divisional Social Services secretary, who was one of the presenters. Drawing from her years of experience as a nurse and from leadership given to the Army’s Bethesda House AIDS Shelter, Seiler carefully and sensitively took the chaplains through the subject of “Death and Dying.” Also in attendance was Captain Lee R. Lescano, Orange County Coordinator and chief chaplain for the Tustin Police Department.
Obviously this additional training offered by the OCCA, and by the Police Department as well, will add significantly to the chaplains’ unique calling.