Ridgeview Spiritual Care Services is typically staffed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday; on Saturday and Sunday, a chaplain is on call and may be paged to respond to critical situations.

If you or a loved one who is a patient in the hospital would like to request a visit with a chaplain, you can call Spiritual Care Services or ask your nurse to contact a chaplain for you. If requested, a chaplain will gladly assist you in notifying your clergy or faith community of your illness or hospitalization. If you are a patient of Ridgeview's Emergency Department or Same-Day Surgery, a chaplain will meet with you and offer prayer before your surgery if you would like. When you register, simply ask that a chaplain be paged.

Meet the Ridgeview Chaplains

Paul Christopher
Paul Christopher brings more than 30 years of pastoral experience and even more of emergency care to his role as chaplain at Ridgeview Medical Center. Prior to completing the chaplain residency program at Methodist Hospital, Paul served as the senior pastor for Grace Lutheran Church in Dawson, Minnesota. He also has served as a volunteer firefighter and an EMT, and was the director of the ambulance service in Dawson for 18 years. Additionally, Paul has served on the board of directors for Johnson Memorial Health Services. Paul holds a bachelor of arts degree in psychology and history from Concordia College in Moorhead, as well as a master’s of divinity from Luther Seminary in St. Paul.

As a Ridgeview chaplain, Paul is primarily based at the hospital and also facilitates the Grief Support Group, which meets the second and fourth Monday evenings each month. Paul and his wife, Jane, reside in Waconia.

Bob Haskin
Bob Haskin has served in the parish community as a senior minister and minister of visitation, and also served as a chaplain intern for two years at Ebenezer facilities for the elderly in Minneapolis. Before joining Ridgeview, he was a chaplain resident at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, where he specialized in hospice care. His educational background includes a master’s of divinity and a doctorate of ministry, a master of arts degree in counseling and  a doctor of philosophy degree in disability management, vocational assessment and rehabilitation. He is endorsed by his denomination for chaplaincy.

Prior to choosing the ministry, Bob was a certified rehabilitation counselor and consultant who assisted people with disabilities, injuries and illnesses. He is currently a national certified counselor. 

At Ridgeview, Bob’s primary focus is hospice care, but he also serves as hospital chaplain one day each week as well as during on-call hours. He is married, and has two children and eight grandchildren. 

Partners in Health: Physical + Emotional + Spiritual

Ridgeview Provides Care for People of All Faiths
The patient population for Ridgeview Medical Center represents a wide variety of religious traditions. In 2004, patients who chose to note a religious preference when being admitted represented the following denominations:

• Lutheran - 24,480  
• Catholic - 15,856  
• Protestant - 4,362  
• Christian - 2,037  
• Methodist - 1,774   
• Presbyterian - 1,716 
• Baptist - 1,120  
• Evangelical Free Church of America - 418  
• Episcopalian - 378  
• Jehovah’s Witnesses - 369
• Moravian - 306  
• United Church of Christ - 284  
• Jewish - 196
• Assembly of God - 164  
• Alliance - 125
• Covenant Church - 101  
• Pentecostal - 94
• Congregational - 81  
• Unitarian - 79
• Reformed - 67
• Buddhist - 65
• Muslim - 50
• Adventist - 48
• Orthodox - 30
• Hindu - 27
• Native American Indian - 19
• Eckankar - 16
• Born-Again Christian - 14
• Christian Science - 8
• Baha’i - 5