Spiritual Health

The Rev. John Betz, MPH, MDiv, BCC (he/him) is an ordained Episcopal priest and Board Certified Chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains. John brings more than 20 years of experience in professional chaplaincy, healthcare leadership, hospice care, military ministry, education, and research.

His leadership at Wellstar has included responsibility for system-wide spiritual care strategy, clinical operations, workforce planning, quality improvement, team-member care, professional development, and the integration of chaplaincy within interdisciplinary healthcare teams. He has led a large, geographically dispersed department serving hospitals, hospices, outpatient settings, patients, families, team members, and communities throughout the health system.

John holds a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, a Master of Public Health in Biostatistics from the University of Cincinnati, and a certificate in Spiritual Care Management and Leadership from Rush University. He has more than a decade of experience in public health research and healthcare quality improvement, with expertise in quantitative and qualitative methods, program evaluation, project management, clinical documentation, and translating data into effective operational decisions.

He has presented and published in diverse professional and academic settings and teaches various courses on chaplaincy and its intersection with global health. His work emphasizes evidence-informed, culturally responsive, and compassionate spiritual care for people of all religious, spiritual, and humanist backgrounds.

Wanda Diane Gardner-Slater was born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and currently serves as Manager, Spiritual Health at Wellstar Cobb Medical Center, Austell, Georgia. Wanda is a graduate Rahway Senior High, Rahway, New Jersey, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri (Bachelor’s degree in Medical Sociology and International Development), The University of Chicago, Chicago Illinois (Master’s study in International Relations with emphasis on Women Under Apartheid), Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Illinois, (Masters, Urban Affairs and Policy Analysis), Baptist Theological Seminary, Richmond Virginia (Masters of Divinity), Virginia Commonwealth University (Masters, Patient Counseling and Clinical Pastoral Education). Wanda received her doctoral degree from Wesleyan Seminary in Marion, Indiana with a concentration in Spiritual Formation (Historical Trauma).

Wanda has served as a hospital and hospice chaplain for over 19 years, with positions at Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center in Burbank, California, and Director of Spiritual Care positions at Level 1 Trauma Centers in Memphis TN, and Stony Brook NY, Systems Director with Novant Health, and Springfield Regional Medical Center OH. Throughout her time in chaplaincy, Wanda has concentrated in oncology, critical care/trauma, gerontology, hospice, palliative care, and grief, and bereavement before joining Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission as Senior Director of Hope Place and later the Mission Center Director. She has a particular interest in the role of faith and spirituality in women of color and how the connection influences health outcomes and spiritual formation.

Rev. Dr. Gardner-Slater was licensed and ordained at the Spring Creek Baptist Church, Midlothian, Virginia, she served as assistant pastor and educator teaching church doctrine and polity, the Baptist Covenant and the Articles of Faith. She has also served as associate pastor in Sylmar, California, Memphis, Tennessee, and Gordon Heights, New York. Wanda is the mother of three (Andrew, William and Kellin), an avid reader, her family griot and a lover of African American and Gullah Geechee history.

Chaplain Henry Holt III, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, serves as the Director of Spiritual Health at Wellstar MCG Health Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia. He earned a Master of Divinity degree from the Interdenominational Theological Center Seminary (ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia, completed four units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at Self Regional Hospital in Greenwood, South Carolina, and earned board certification from the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC). He has 14 plus years of extensive clinical experience serving in both hospital and hospice settings. He has also served as a bereavement coordinator and pastor, roles that deepened his passion for providing compassionate spiritual care. Chaplain Holt’s greatest desire is to help individuals discover meaning and purpose on their spiritual journey. Beyond his professional calling, Chaplain Holt finds joy in spending time with his wife, Dr. Deltrye Eagle Holt, and their two sons. He also enjoys traveling, cycling, fishing, and playing golf.

Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, “Deb,” as she is known to her colleagues, had always felt drawn to ministry since she was a young girl. After caring for a family member with AIDs in the early 1990s, she took the first step and pursued her Master of Divinity at the Regent University School of Divinity, which would begin her preparation for hospital and hospice work. Deb considers herself to be interdenominational as she has spent times with various religious denominations, and as a result sought her ordination and ecclesiastical endorsement through the International Ministerial Fellowship (IMF) and the Coalition of Spirit-Filled Churches (CSC), respectively. She completed her Clinical Pastoral Education Residency at Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News, VA. After this, she worked as a hospice chaplain for nearly 15 years with the Bon Secours Health System before moving to Marietta, GA, and beginning her career with Wellstar Health System. Deb is a Board Certified Chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC).

Rev. Kory Trinrud is the Manager of Spiritual Health at Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center. He is a Board Certified Chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains.  Kory has been a chaplain since 2015. He previously worked as a hospice chaplain and as a pastor in the United Methodist Church. Kory completed his undergraduate at the University of Georgia in Athens and earned his MDiv at Emory University. Kory enjoys several creative outlets, particularly painting and woodworking. He also enjoys being outdoors, hiking, hunting, and taking trips in the camper with his family and their dogs.

Tamekia A. Milton is an inspiring, compassionate, and innovative servant-leader who is passionate about seeing individuals thrive and flourish wholistically- spirit, mind, body, and soul. She skillfully leads and serves to cultivate people, systems, organizations, and communities to produce and maximize their purpose, goals, and vision, to materialize change, progress, and transformation. With over 15 years in corporate leadership in Healthcare Administration and Academia, and 20+ years in Parish Ministry and Community Advocacy, she has honed a presence, methodologies, concepts, and approaches that nurture emergence and promote wellbeing.

As an intercultural leader and educator in Spiritual Health and Chaplaincy, Tamekia is a sought-out lecturer, panelist, conference speaker, and civic leader on issues and topics of race, ethnicity, equity, diversity, and inclusion (DEI), psychosocial development, pastoral care, trauma-informed spiritual care, spirituality, wholistic health and healing, and Christian formation and witness. She is an ACPE Certified Educator and an ordained Pastor in the Baptist tradition who embodies her motto, “Living to Serve, Accomplishing to Impart.” She holds a B. A. in Music Performance and Education from Clark Atlanta University (Atlanta, GA) and earned a Master of Divinity Degree with a Certificate in Religious Education and Formation & Witness, from Emory University, Candler School of Theology (Atlanta, GA). She is a Social Psychology PhD candidate at Liberty University (Lynchburg, VA).

Tamekia's professional leadership activities include having served as the first Pastor/Spiritual Advisor of Community Education for The Johns Hopkins Health System Medical Religious Partnership; a Consulting Spiritual Health Clinician for the American College of Physicians, Maryland Chapter; The Johns Hopkins Hospital- Ethics Committee Member; numerous regional and national committees for the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE).

Rev. Seungeun "Kate" Rhee has served as a chaplain for four years following her CPE Residency at Northside Hospital and Children's Hospital of Atlanta. She specialized in providing spiritual care by helping care recipients focus on transcendent meaning, purpose, and value through compassionate listening, spiritual assessment, and spiritual resources in the interfaith and intercultural settings. She received an MDiv from Columbia Theological Seminary.