ROGERS — A new beginning is in progress for Catholic health care in Rogers.
Physicians, employees and volunteers at Mercy Medical Center have started the process of opening the new hospital that was recently completed.
On Saturday, Feb. 23, the Transformation Walk kicked off the gigantic effort of moving the hospital contents from Walnut Street in downtown Rogers to New Hope Road in southwest Rogers.
“There are about 200 people signed up for this event. This is just another way for the people who work here to take part — this is a way for them to be involved. They carry certain objects of significance to the new hospital in shifts. It is a procession of seven or eight teams each with 15 people where one group of walkers will pass these items off to the next group of walkers,” said Kyle Weaver, a hospital spokesman.
The hospital’s mission statement and the statue of a young Jesus from the pediatric floor were among the items that have defined the heritage and traditions of the hospital for more than 50 years.
“These are some of the significant things that would be a symbol of taking the spirit, the mission of our service from this facility to that one,” said Sister Anita DeSalvo, RSM, a member of the executive team.
One major transformation for the hospital is a name change. In October Mercy Health System of Northwest Arkansas announced the new building would be known as Mercy Medical Center, not St. Mary Hospital.
Plans for a new hospital have been developed over the past five years along with a $40 million capital campaign to ensure its success.
Located near Interstate 540 and a rapidly developing business and retail area, the 350,000-square-foot facility, as well as a 120,000-square-foot medical office building, will serve not only northwest Arkansas but the whole region.
Described as “the crown jewel of the campus,” the hospital chapel will be named St Mary’s Chapel as a tribute to the Dominican sisters who opened the hospital in 1951.
“Knowing how much the community has valued the service of the Dominican sisters for 50-plus years here in Rogers, we definitely wanted to make sure that we carried that on to the new hospital,” Weaver said.
However, the entire hospital reflects the spiritual nature of healing. When plans were being discussed for the new facility, the leaders and architects envisioned the chapel to be placed on the bluff where all the trees and the greenery would be.
“We said we wouldn’t be able to build a chapel much larger that the present chapel, but if we did the glass behind the altar and build a prayer garden, it would be an environmental place of healing,” Sister Anita said. “There would be a real connection between the chapel that we identify as spirituality into this prayer garden of creation — of God’s creation — which also provides a healing environment.
“It opens up into the garden where there is a small labyrinth. This is an interior walk that provides you with a focus on trying to center yourself. For people here in the midst of their suffering or their worry or their angst, it is a way to take a short walk of reflection.”
Another highlight in the new facility is the Way of the Cross. A set of the Stations of the Cross were discovered in a church in Belgium and have been restored for the hospital.
Sister Anita said, “They are being placed throughout the hospital. Tobias Meeker, the mission vice president, and I have written a brochure of reflections that people can pick up and actually make this pilgrimage through the hospital.”
Sister Anita said the devotion is not just for Catholic family members and patients.
“The reflections are written in such a way that they are based on Scripture with some kind of comment or question,” she said. “We were very conscious of language. They were done in such a way that the reflection strived to point to the hopefulness around each station. Certainly the suffering is there, but what does that suffering mean? What is the invitation through the suffering?”
Hospital leaders and architects also tried to incorporate nature into the hospital. Outdoor photography and artwork will be displayed around the hospital.
A sculpted piece, titled “The Living Tree,” has been placed near the chapel. The story-and-a-half monochromatic display is based on Psalm 1:3: “They are like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season. Its leaves never wither; whatever they do prospers.”
Tom and Jackie Moberg of Moberg Studio in Iowa were the artists.
“You will see it as you approach the chapel — the tree by living water,” Weaver said. “Again we are looking at the harmonization between the natural aspect of the healing environment concept and the faith-based spirituality.”
The Catholic mission of the hospital will be apparent in other places. Crucifixes will be placed in each of the 200 private patient rooms, Weaver said.
Another touchstone for the hospital will also be placed at the new facility — the statue of St. Dominic, founder of the Dominican order. It occupied a place of prominence in the lobby at the old hospital.
“When the Dominican sisters transferred ownership to the Sisters of Mercy in 1995, the physicians and the co-workers had the statue done for the Dominican sisters,” Sister Anita said.
A life-sized sculpture of Venerable Mother Catherine McAuley, founder of the Sisters of Mercy, was commissioned for the new hospital and created by Sister Marie Henderson, a Sister of Mercy from Detroit. The statue is now located in the front of the hospital to welcome visitors.
The hospital chapel will be blessed during a private liturgy Friday, Feb. 29 by Msgr. J. Gaston Hebert, diocesan administrator. He will also bless the entire campus and buildings at a public celebration Saturday, March 1.
Patients will begin using the hospital on March 16.
