Spectrum Health Pennock Foundation has launched a yearend fundraising campaign for the creation of a new sanctuary and healing garden for the benefit of guests, patients and employees of Spectrum Health Pennock Hospital. The new space in the atrium area near the main entrance will reflect an inter-faith presence and serve as a calming place where all are welcome to pray and receive spiritual counsel, be a family, meditate, grieve and receive grace, peace and hope, said Janine Dalman, executive director of the foundation.
“When we think of health care we naturally think of clinical care, but having this incredible sanctuary will allow the hospital to offer a next level of emotional and spiritual care. What started out as a small project to enhance our existing chapel turned into something much more impressive thanks to the input of our community,” Dalman said.
Moving the existing chapel to its new location in the hospital is the result of a focus group of patients, families, ministers, social workers, hospice, employees and the community at large. Working with architects, the group discussed bringing the outdoors in and a hope to provide a unique, serene space for patient families and employees.
They envisioned the sanctuary holding bereavement classes for hospice families, counseling patient families during difficult times, debriefing emergency department staff after a traumatic event and simply a place of peace, she said.
A sanctuary with flexible seating, areas for prayer and meditation, a resource wall and access to the outside healing garden, fills a void at Pennock and helps fulfill its mission to improve the health of the community in a different way. Pastor Michael Anton said the chapel (sanctuary) is literally and symbolically a critical sign of holistic healing – for both patients and caregivers.
For more information on how to help the foundation make the new sanctuary a reality, contact Dalman at 269-945-3651, or Janine.dalman@spectrumhealth.org. Donations can be made online at www.pennockfoundation.com or mailed to Spectrum Health Foundation Pennock Hospital, 1009 West Green Street, Hastings, MI 49058.//
Participants of the focus group who dealt with grief shared what having a sanctuary at the hospital meant to them during their time of need.
The hospital chaplain: “The children were having a great deal of difficulty dealing with their mom’s declining health and there were many opinions on what to do.
“As the chaplain at Spectrum Health Pennock Hospital, I was asked to meet with them. I wanted to meet in the chapel, but with eight children and spouses, we were forced to meet in the third floor family waiting area. It was the only space that could hold all of us.
“The daughter spoke with me later and said it would have been so much better if we had been able to meet somewhere that would have given us a feeling of hope for Mom, her future and us, as we made decisions about her future.”
From another: “My dad spent a fair amount of time in the hospital. The chapel in the hospital meant a lot to me when I needed to get away and process what was happening in my life. It was quiet without medical equipment, noises, nurses and sickness. The chapel gave me a place to grieve, without further upsetting my parents with my grief. It gave me a place to pray for something better than the situation I was in.”
A new donor wall separating the sanctuary from the waiting area will highlight contributors to the new sanctuary in addition to donors of the PACS campaign that are currently recognized on bricks in the garden area.
Photo: One view of the projected sanctuary area at Spectrum Health Pennock Hospital
