World's First Hospital-Based Center of Excellence in Faith and Health Debuts in Memphis

$1 Million Founding Gift Gets Project Started

Memphis, Tenn. -- Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare (MLH) has launched a center to advance health by bringing faith and health together for the improved wellbeing of thousands of patients. The Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare Center of Excellence in Faith and Health was announced today at a news conference at the health system’s flagship hospital, Methodist University Hospital, where the center will be housed.

"The spirit of faith and healing pervades Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare. It’s in our DNA," said Gary S. Shorb, president and chief executive officer. "Our goal is to dramatically enhance quality of care and support for our patients and their families. We believe that the coupling of faith and health can not only elevate the level of care we deliver to our patients, but also improve quality of life for our community and beyond."

"In the past two decades a growing body of evidence has emerged that shows that patients who are active participants in a worshipping community have significantly better health outcomes," said Gary R. Gunderson, D.Min., M.Div., senior vice president of health and welfare ministries and an ordained minister. "Other studies indicate that patients in hospitals receiving skilled spiritual care are able to be released more quickly and return less often than those receiving either no spiritual care, or untrained spiritual care."

"The Center of Excellence in Faith and Health reflects solid medical evidence that the link between faith and health is important long term patient outcomes. The center is a tool that will help us understand better so that our practice and implementation of this area of knowledge is as systematic and excellent as we expect to achieve in other more traditional areas of medical science."

The center is an interfaith, collaborative center of research, innovation and training. Working with partners both locally and all over the world, the center has a multi-tiered approach including: identifying and linking local community faith resources; providing support and resources to clergy; enhancing the patient experience within the walls of the hospital; and collaborative research with international experts on faith and health - all with the goal of improving the wellbeing of the patient before, during and after the hospital experience.

While the center encompasses work already under way at MLH, as well as a number of new programs, it also calls for a large new physical space at the front entrance of the hospital. MLH announced today that a $1-million founding gift by local ophthalmologist and philanthropist Dr. Ralph Hamilton and wife Barbara, a longtime Methodist volunteer, will fund the creation of the physical space. The development of the space will require another half million in philanthropy to be raised by the Methodist Healthcare Foundation. Those funds will be matched by Methodist. The system budgets about $3 million each year for faith and health.

"The 21st Century demands that we connect all the partners relevant to the health of our patients. That demands new models of training, new programs, new techniques, all of which will be generated by the Center of Excellence," said Shorb.

"All center activities will focus on the confluence of faith and health, and that work will focus on how we connect the resources inside and outside the walls of the healthcare system," said Dr. Gunderson. "Because the work done here includes local, national and international partners, even before it’s built, the center is considered a global asset."

The physical Center of Excellence in Faith and Health will be housed in 20,000 square feet of renovated space at the hospital’s front entrance and will include:
* Transformation of the intensive care unit waiting room into a state-of-the-art family-centered healing environment with a quiet area, laundry rooms, and showers for family members as as space for local clergy to counsel their members.
* A resource center for family members and congregational visitors to equip them to care for patients needing continuing care after hospitalization.
* Creative meeting space for academic partners to work with each other as well as teach our Associates and local clergy.
* An indoor interfaith chapel to accommodate and embrace all faiths
* A meditation garden with water features, a labyrinth and sacred prayer space, and
* An 24/7 on-call chaplain in adjoining space.

In addition, the center will serve as the hub for Methodist’s many faith and health initiatives outside its walls, including:
* Growth of its dynamic Congregational Health Network, a collaborative partnership between Methodist’s hospitals and Mid-South church congregations,
* Implementation of a religious health asset mapping project to improve the health of the overall Memphis community. Dr. Gunderson was principal investigator of a similar project in Africa, and Memphis was designated by the World Health Organization the only U.S. or European site to replicate this work,
* Continuation of a clergy health focus with the goal of being the premier clergy leadership center in the world and will also foster expanded relationships with seminary partners locally and nationally. For instance, Dr. Gunderson worked with Memphis Theological Seminary and Wesley Theological Seminary (Washington, DC) to develop a doctorate program in faith and health, and next will come a masters-level program. In May MTS and Wesley Seminary will bring 30 doctoral students to Memphis for joint courses on faith and health. Other important partners the center will continue to work with are the Memphis-based Church Health center, the University of Memphis, Emory University, Duke University, Chicago Theological Seminary and more.
* Strengthening international partnerships by expanding relationships with faith-based health leaders across the U.S. and in Africa, Switzerland, Norway and other countries, Partners will convene at the Center to develop practices related to integrated health, disease management and spiritual care.

"Our intellectual work is shaped by our commitment to understand the ‘leading causes of life,’ not just death," said Dr. Gunderson. One of the first tangible outcomes of the Center of Excellence in Faith and Health is a partnership resulting in the Leading Causes of Life Webinar series. Based on the recent book by that name, authored by Dr. Gunderson and Larry Pray, the Webinars, equips viewers with a language of life - give ways to identify life in ourselves and our communities. The Webinars, being launched on the Methodist Website today, were filmed on the campus of Rhodes College and were part of the prestigious Meeman at Night lecture series. To view, log on free to www.methodisthealth.org and click on the Webcast icon. A recording of the Webinars will remain on the Website for one year as a reference and educational tool.

How It Began
The Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare system was born out of the faith community in the early 1900s when North Mississippi farmer and United Methodist Church layman John Sherard began rallying support to build a Methodist Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. Chartered in 1918, that first hospital has grown into a seven-hospital system with a home health agency, surgery centers, and outpatient clinics serving the Memphis area.

A longtime lynchpin of the Memphis medical community and the third largest hospital in the country**, Methodist made a purposeful decision to be recognized as a leader in faith-based healthcare. In September 2005, Dr. Gunderson, was recruited to fill a spot as senior vice president for Methodist’s Health and Welfare Ministries division. Gunderson brought with him expansive national and international contacts in public health arena, having worked as leader of the Interfaith Health Program started at The Carter Center, and later in that same role for the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. "The more I learned about Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, I found it was a very unusual healthcare system," said Dr. Gunderson. "I can’t think of another place that would have the commitment to mission, coupled with the vision that would allow this kind of thing to happen. Gary (Shorb) and the board of directors understand the correlation between faith and health, reflecting a culture and strategy that’s just quite remarkable."

** Based on admissions; All Methodist’s Memphis hospitals are licensed as one.

Chaplain John A. Wilcher, M.Div., BCC
Director, Clergy and Conference Ministries
Methodist Healthcare
1211 Union Avenue, Suite #746
Memphis, TN 38104-6600
Main Office: (901) 516-0592
Direct Office: (901) 516-0864
FAX: (901) 516-0595
Pager: (901) 418-1381
Cell Phone: (901) 210-6878
Email: wilcherj@methodisthealth.org
Methodist Healthcare Website: www.methodisthealth.org
Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center Website: www.lebonheur.org