Children’s Medical Center Legacy opens chapel and godly play room

by Staff of Children's Medical Center

Being in a hospital can be a scary experience, especially for children. A family’s faith is often tested as they grapple with the difficult and unfair situation of having a sick or injured child. For many, the hospital chapel is the one place they can go to find quiet and calm in the midst of chaos, a respite where people of all faiths – or none at all – can be at peace.

Through a $1 million gift, Pete and Jerry Abbott provided that space at the recently opened Children’s Medical Center Legacy in Plano. The Abbott Chapel and Godly Play Room were dedicated in a ceremony attended by Pete, Jerry and more than a dozen of their children and grandchildren.

“These children and their families are dealing with so much, physically and emotionally,” said Jerry Abbott. “We wanted to give them a place for spiritual healing.”

Godly Play is an interactive form of learning that engages children through hands-on religious storytelling and can be used with patients of all major religious faiths. Rooted in the Montessori tradition of learning through discovery and touch, it has become popular in churches throughout the country. The Children’s Medical Center is one of the first hospitals in the nation to embrace Godly Play. With the opening of the Godly Play Room, it is a pioneer in the field.

“Godly Play weaves together images of faith, hope and love with a child’s current experience,” said Witek Nowosiad, manager of Pastoral Care at Children's Legacy. “Godly Play provides a language for children to give voice to their experience through the use of wonder, imagination, creativity and art. The use of faith images in stories invites children to express their connection to the Sacred. I used the Good Shepherd story with a patient who was able to relate the Good Shepherd to God, his parents, and nurses, looking after him.“

Private philanthropy plays a critical role at Children’s, enabling the hospital to expand services and locations as it did with the opening of the Legacy campus. It also helps provide key programs and places that improve the patient experience, such as the chapel, Godly Play Room and chaplains.