PROVO -- Even before the workmen were finished with the little chapel inside the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, people were seeking comfort and inspiration within its walls.
"We had people in here while we were setting up for the press conference," said Janet Hart, a hospital spokeswoman. "I know people are going to like having it. The nurses will like having a place they can suggest to people."Alden Brown, chaplain for the IHC hospitals in Utah County, said the chapel will provide a place of solace for the grieving, as well as a place of meditation, prayer and celebration. Funerals and weddings also may be held there.
Brown hopes the chapel will be reverently shared by those of various faiths and beliefs.
"I purposely wanted to introduce people of different faiths to each other, would love to see all of us feel comfortable with each other and not feel any tension between us," Brown said Tuesday when the chapel opened.
The chapel will be dedicated May 16.
"This is a work in progress yet," said Jim Murphy, director of IHC's fund-raising arm. "We have a lot we want to do still. We want to put in the kneelers and a holy water font."
Brown said there will be a cross on the altar table and also appropriate cloths available so the table can be used as a for sacrament services of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The chapel, which used to be space for the hospital cashier, has double doors for hospital beds and aisles wide enough for wheelchairs.
The lighting is indirect and can be modified. The chapel is decorated with an ornate stained-glass window and a painting of Jesus Christ with a child.
A small black grand piano also is next to the podium.
Everything in the chapel is adaptable.
"We did not want religious symbolism that could not be portable," Brown said.
Brown said the idea of a chapel at a hospital is not new but one that's been awaited with enthusiasm and patience.
He lauded Provo residents Monroe and Shirley Paxman with keeping the idea alive and seeing it through to fruition.
The chapel was built entirely with private donations.
"Our hope is that this sanctuary becomes a place of comfort, spiritual strength and healing to all who enter for generations to come," Brown said.