Chun Chapel
On December 1, 2017 community members, chaplaincy volunteers, and staff gathered to celebrate the dedication of the new Chun Chapel at Gifford Medical Center. The original chapel, created in 1996 to honor the memory of beloved Gifford Surgeon Kwang Ho Chung, was relocated during hospital renovations in 2015 that created new private patient rooms.
The new chapel is located near the hospital’s inpatient unit and is available for patients, visitors, and staff. It features a stained glass window from the original chapel, built by Jim Kennedy and Laudel Slack, and new glass side panels especially created for the new space by Randolph artist Phil Godenschwager.
Dr. Ken Borie opened the ceremony with a tribute to Dr. Chun, a colleague and friend who served as chief of surgery at Gifford from 1974 to 1992. He praised Chun’s dedication to the faithful practice of healing, as a physician and member of the community.
Inside the chapel several people involved with planning the new space placed religious and secular symbolic offerings on the chapel’s table: a Bible, a Jewish Prayer Book , a copy of the Qur’an, floor plans, a piece of stained glass, and a stethoscope.
Gifford CEO and Dan Bennett’s welcoming words at the chapel door described the importance of this small but peaceful space at the heart of the hospital:
“Day or night, at all shifts, and in all circumstances, may the door of this chapel be always open that it may become a sanctuary for all who enter and a place where all our hopes and fears, our joys and sadness, may be known and answered by the God who loves us.”
