Hospital Chapels Evolving Into “Meditation Rooms” On The West Coast

Chapels have been a mainstay with hospitals for years but now due to the fact that patients and families belong to many different religions, the chapel as we have known it is taking on a new identity to accommodate.

You can read below and some well known hospitals, such as Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Hospitals are going with the flow here as well. With this effort a sanctuary is provided for all, no matter what your religion may be. As mentioned, this is somewhat of a west coast trend, thus all hospitals may not have moved into a non denominational area yet. BD

They have space for prayer rugs and windows facing east – but no pews or religious symbols. They are called meditation rooms, sanctuaries where families can pray for patients, and doctors can pause for spiritual refreshing.

At least three area hospitals have plans to open meditation rooms – or expand and revise what were once known as chapels – for nondenominational observance. Reasons range from the changing needs of hospital staff, with more Muslims seeking a place to follow daily rituals, to the evolving view of medicine that the body and soul can heal together

Kaiser Permanente, for the first time in the Sacramento area, is constructing four meditation rooms in three hospitals. The first, at Kaiser Medical Center on Morse Avenue, opens in two weeks. UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento will open a large interfaith space in its new pavilion wing, scheduled to open in the fall. Sutter Health's new hospital for women and children in Sacramento will open in 2013 with a 40-seat meditation room.

Hospitals rethink spiritual spaces, create meditation rooms - Sacramento Living - Sacramento Food and Wine, Home, Health | Sacramento Bee