At least three Northern California hospitals have plans to open meditation rooms — or to expand and update what were once known as chapels — for nondenominational observance. This is in response to the changing needs of hospital staff and the evolving view that the body and soul can heal together. These new meditation rooms do not have pews or religious symbols. Instead they are sanctuaries where families can pray for patients, space for prayer rugs and windows facing east, or a quiet area where doctors can pause for spiritual refreshing. According to a chaplain who manages spiritual care for Kaiser North Valley hospitals “When people are facing the ultimate spiritual and existential crisis, such as illness, they need a quiet place to go. These rooms should meet the needs of all faiths.” Some hospitals do not call the rooms chapels because that label invokes the Judeo-Christian tradition. Hospitals have staff from a wide variety of faith backgrounds including Muslims who need a place to pray five times a day.
Kaiser Permanente is constructing four meditation rooms in three hospitals in the Sacramento area. The University of California Davis Medical Center will open a new interfaith space in its new pavilion wing to open in the fall. Sutter Health’s new hospital for women and children in Sacramento will have a 40-seat meditation room when it opens in 2013 and be equipped with Jewish prayer shawls as well as Muslim prayer rugs. Instead of having traditional religious symbols, such as a cross and an altar, these new spaces often have nature motifs. Instead of a traditional altar, there is space for meditation mats and prayer rugs. A bowl may be placed where worshippers can place written prayers. The intent of a meditation room is to provide a welcoming environment for people of all faiths — and people of non-faith — where they can sit down and reflect as they are trying to make important medical decisions. Other public spaces are now installing meditation rooms as well including airports, universities, and prisons.
Source: “Hospitals Rethinking Spiritual Spaces, Create Meditation Rooms” posted by Jennifer Garza, Sacramento Bee, May 13, 2010.