TODAY - Feb. 7, 2002

Thursday, February 7, 2002 TODAY

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Innerweave: The Wholeness Story
City of Loma Linda prepares to resurface Campus Street and University Avenue

Innerweave: The Wholeness Story
By Wil Alexander, PhD, director emeritus, Center for Spiritual Life & Wholeness

Mayo Clinic is internationally known for their interest in the health and well being of broken and ill persons. In a recent review article in their Mayo Clinical Proceedings, they addressed the role of spirituality in medicine. Consider the following from their careful observation and experience:

"Surveys suggest that most patients have a spiritual life and regard their spiritual health and physical health as equally important.

"Furthermore, people may have greater spiritual needs during illness. When people consult physicians to determine the cause and treatment of an illness, they may also seek answers to existential questions that medical science cannot answer (e.g., "why is this illness happening to me?"). Many patients rely on a religious or spiritual framework and call on religious or spiritual caregivers to help answer these questions. Indeed, throughout history, religion and spirituality and the practice of medicine have been intertwined. As a result, many religions embrace caring for the sick as a primary mission, and many of the world's leading medical institutions have religious and spiritual roots.

"The word religion is from the Latin religare, which means "to bind together." A religion organizes the collective spiritual experiences of a group of people into a system of beliefs and practices. Religious involvement or religiosity refers to the degree of participation in or adherence to the beliefs and practices of an organized religion.

"Spirituality is from the Latin spiritualitas, which means "breath." It is a broader concept than religion an is primarily a dynamic, personal, and experiential process. Features of spirituality include quest for meaning and purpose, transcendence (i.e., the sense that being human is more than simple material existence), connectedness (e.g., with others, nature, or the divine), and values (e.g., love, compassion, and justice).

"Even though some people who regard themselves as spiritual do not endorse a formal religion, religious involvement and spirituality are overlapping concepts. Experientially, both may involve a search for meaning and purpose, transcendence, connectedness, and values. In this light, religious involvement is similar to spirituality. Spirituality may also have a communal or group expression; when this expression is formalized, spirituality is more like an organized religion."

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City of Loma Linda prepares to resurface Campus Street and University Avenue

This week the City of Loma Linda began preparing Campus Street and University Avenue for paving. Crews will be pulverizing and grading the streets through February 20.

Paving of these streets will take place February 20–22 (unless delayed by weather conditions).

The work will take place on Campus Street from Barton Road north to the railroad tracks, and on University Avenue from Campus Street to Barton Road.

Loma Linda University Medical Center administrators hope to reduce the inconvenience the paving will cause by posting signs to ensure that employees, faculty, students, patients, visitors, and the community are aware of detours and construction activity. Local access will be maintained.

On-street parking will be restricted February 4–28. Overflow parking for LLU&MC employees will be in the gravel lot behind Gentry Gym and in Lot J across from Barton Road and the Medical Center.

Regular meetings between hospital administration and the contractor will take place. While the project provides inconvenience, it is long overdue.

Administration will provide regular updates. If you notice a n emergent safety issue, please call Robert Cole at (909) 218-5433.

All other questions and concerns should be directed to City of Loma Linda officials.

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