March 25, 2002
Baylor Medical Center plans garden area for meditation
___DALLAS--At the heart of a busy urban hospital, Baylor Medical Center will construct a quiet garden area for meditation and prayer.
___Plans for the Interfaith Garden of Healing were announced as part of the Baptist medical system's centennial celebration in 2003.
___The garden will provide further expression of Baylor's founding statement, written in 1903 by George W. Truett, according to chaplain Jann Aldredge-Clanton. That statement calls for creation of a great humanitarian institution where people of all faiths and those of no faith may come with equal confidence.
___The Interfaith Garden of Healing will offer a quiet place for prayer, she said. It will include a series of circular prayer paths, trees, two waterfalls and beds of seasonal greenery. It will be located in a courtyard between Roberts Hospital and Sammons Cancer Center.
___Baylor's goal is to "humanize" the high-tech medical environment of the hospital, Alredge-Clanton said.
___"We believe this will be an important addition to the Christian chapels already existing on our campus," said Mark Grace, director of pastoral care. "It will reflect our compassionate hospitality to people of all faiths."
___Baylor strives "not only to provide the most scientifically advanced treatments for our patients but also comprehensive care for the whole person," added Robert Fine, a medical doctor who chairs the medical center's ethics committee. "This includes the ability to provide appropriate spiritual care to those of all faiths and those of none."
___Baylor Health Care System Foundation plans to raise $1.5 million to construct the garden.
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