New Parkland Chapel, garden provides serenity
Designed as peaceful,
meditative space
Peace is what Dr. Kevin Johnson hopes visitors will find in the chapel garden of the new Parkland hospital. It will be a place where patients, visitors and staff can meditate and think of those who hold a special place in their heart.
For Dr. Johnson that person is his twin brother, Kelvin, who died suddenly at age 41 on Feb. 25, 2007 of congestive heart failure. His brother’s death was devastating. “He was the first person I ever met and was my best friend,” said Parkland’s Assistant Chief Registered Nurse Anesthetist. “I couldn’t imagine life without him. I felt like a part of me died, too.”
Though he had three older brothers, the death of his twin left Dr. Johnson with a void that was unfathomable. As the days turned to weeks and the weeks to months, Dr. Johnson searched for ways to cope with his grief. That journey led him to the Twinless Twins Support Group, Intl. It was during the group’s annual meeting – that year held in Dallas – where Dr. Johnson found people who knew exactly how he felt. It was there he was finally able to laugh, cry and share stories of the brother who was by his side since before birth, and who was now gone.
And it was then that Dr. Johnson began looking for ways to honor his twin. As a long-time donor to Parkland, he knew the importance of giving to the institution where he has worked for nearly two decades. Through Parkland Foundation he created the Kevin and Kelvin Johnson Endowment Fund, in addition to an estate gift that will create the Kevin and Kelvin Johnson Twin Chapel Garden at the new hospital.
“I wanted to create a place to go where everyone, including those like me who have lost a twin, could find a place of faith, hope, love and peace,” Dr. Johnson said. “This garden will be an extension of the kind of person my brother was.”
The garden was designed as a serene, inviting outdoor space that can accommodate large gatherings or offer a peaceful retreat for individuals seeking a quiet place for respite or reflection. Enclosed by a screen of Savannah hollies and shaded by a large live oak tree, the garden will be accessible from the chapel or via decorative steel gates on the opposite side of the garden’s open plaza. Two small water features, stone benches, textured evergreen plantings and colorful seasonal containers will be presented in pairs that reflect the honor paid by Dr. Johnson to his twin brother.
Inside, the chapel space will be adaptable to the variety of services held each week. To support flexibility, the space can be arranged with the altar and service elements in several orientations.
“A backlit feature of shimmering blue glazing evokes the feeling of gently flowing water,” said Gena English, Interior Designer and Senior Program Manager for new Parkland hospital. “Beautiful banners, a traditional decoration carried from the existing Parkland worship space, will be hung opposite the main chapel entry.”
Staying with the design vision of bringing the outside into the building, caramel limestone and wood tones provide a rich backdrop for religious services, English said. There also is a flat screen display to support multi-media presentations concealed within the wood panels of the space.
“The new Parkland chapel is designed to be inviting to staff, patients and families looking for a place of quiet, reverence and spiritual retreat,” English said.
When construction was completed on the current Parkland Memorial Hospital in 1954, the Parkland Auxiliary ensured the facility included a chapel and provided all the necessary financial support for the space. As construction continues on the new Parkland hospital, the Auxiliary again stepped forward.
An initial pledge of $1.25 million to the I Stand for Parkland campaign from the Auxiliary has been fulfilled and in fall 2011 the group made an additional pledge of $1.75 million, bringing its support for the new Parkland hospital and the chapel to $3 million.
Representatives from more than 40 to 50 faith groups use Parkland’s chapel for services or as a place to seek spiritual guidance. Parkland’s Pastoral Care department is available to patients, visitors and staff on its main campus and is comprised of nine full-time chaplains, seven Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) residents, a director and CPE supervisor. Together, the chaplains provide approximately 50,000 patient visits and 20,000 staff visits per year.
In addition, chaplains at Parkland provide pastoral visits every 24 hours to each adult intensive care unit patient and are responsible for the hospital’s Advance Directive’s program. Chaplains respond to every death, emergency code and Level I trauma patient. They also organize special religious services throughout the year as well as provide English and Spanish bereavement support groups.
The new Parkland hospital is scheduled to be completed this summer and open in 2015. With a campus covering nearly 2.5 million square feet, it is the largest new hospital construction project in the country.
For regular construction updates, visit the new Parkland website at www.parklandhospital.com/newparkland.
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