Nana

Some wise person once said, “We are living in someone else’s dream.” I discovered the truth of this statement anew this past Thursday.

Thursday I went to visit someone in Dublin Riverside Methodist Hospital. It was the first time I had ever entered this relatively new hospital and as soon as I arrived I found myself thinking about Nana, my maternal grandmother. I remember my Nana as a vivacious, energetic, hard-working, creative, optimistic, and faith-filled woman. It wasn’t until more recently that I realized that Nana was a woman of great vision. She could see what other people could not. Back in the 1950’s, Nana had dreamt of Dublin Riverside Methodist Hospital.

Nana was the head Registered Nurse for a hospital in Chicago. She would go to work in her pressed and starched white uniform, white stockings, and cap, and she would work in a hospital that was sterile and austere; hygiene was a huge priority!

Intuitively, Nana appreciated the importance for a more holistic approach to healing. When she would come home at night, she would often journal about how hygiene alone doesn’t heal. Through her writing she would paint vivid images both of the sterile environment in which she worked and how she envisioned hospitals could be. She dreamt of natural light and elements of nature – plants and trees and running water within close sight so that patients could draw strength from nature, and from God’s creation. She dreamt of more human touch, and sounds that would soothe rather than irritate patients who were trying to muster their own internal strength to get well.

As I entered Dublin Riverside on Thursday I felt like I was entering a greenhouse, and I immediately thought of her. Pictured here are the living trees and wall of water that are found in the lobby, a flower in a vase that is outside every patient door, and a tree made of glass that is in one of the many atriums.

In the 1950s we didn’t get it; but we do now. Entering this hospital was a resurrection moment for me. It made me wonder what else God may be creating in our midst that I just can't see right now.