Forrest General Healthcare Foundation Breaks Ground on Final Two Elements of Pine Grove Spiritual Grounds
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – (January 31, 2025) A project that began in 2008 on the campus of Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services is beginning its final chapter. On Thursday, January 30, the Forrest General Healthcare Foundation broke ground on the remaining two elements of the Pine Grove Spiritual Grounds project.
With the help of generous donors, the $2 million campaign is bringing to fruition the chapel and bell tower. These final elements will join the Paul McMullan Circle of Healing Plaza and sculpture, which opened as Phase I. Mr. McMullan was a long time Hattiesburg businessman and past president of the Forrest General Hospital Board of Trustees.
“This is a project that has been a vision and part of our fundraising since we started the Foundation in 2006, said Martha Dearman, executive director, Forrest General Healthcare Foundation. “Several people – Bill Oliver, Susan Slaughter, Debbie Sanford – were key in the vision of the Spiritual Grounds at Pine Grove. In 2008, we had the dedication and ribbon cutting for the Paul McMullan Plaza, which was followed by the Medicine Wheel, Fire Circle, and Labyrinth. We concluded the fundraising campaign for these final two elements that we are breaking ground on today a couple of years ago. We are excited this day has arrived.”
“It’s great to have seen Forrest General’s continuation of growth and service to the community through the years,” said Schaeffer Smith, chair, FGH Foundation Board of Directors, “as well as the existence of the Foundation and the ability for the community to both give back and participate in some of these decisions. We appreciate Hattiesburg Clinic and the Mapp Family Foundation for their contributions to this project and the investment back into this community, not just for our physical health, but the whole well- being of the patient.”
Other Spiritual Grounds elements include a Meditative Labyrinth and Fire Circle, which were added in 2018 and made possible through the gift of an anonymous donor.
Another part of the grounds is a Medicine Wheel, which was originally built by Bruce Two Eagles Lemire, and was used regularly in the 1990s. With staffing changes, it became overgrown and unusable until 2014, when a man from the Seneca tribe in New York came to Pine Grove for treatment. He took on the project of reviving the Medicine Wheel, which was dedicated with a Native American service on December 6, 2018. It has been utilized regularly by the Pine Grove patients led by spiritual coordinators.
The Spiritual Grounds, originally designed by Hattiesburg architects, Albert and Associates, have long been a place of healing for Pine Grove patients. Pine Grove uses innovative, yet ancient, methods to treat patients, thanks to the Spiritual Grounds.
Inspiration for the chapel came from two chapels designed by architect, E Faye Jones, who served as an apprentice for Frank Lloyd Wright – Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Ark., and Mildred B. Cooper Chapel in Bella Vista, Arkansas.
The chapel will be named in honor of Bill Oliver, former Forrest General Hospital CEO/president, following a generous donation by his son, Kent, and wife, Candace, upon Bill’s birthday. The chapel will serve as a peaceful setting for meditation and personal reflection. With exaggerated windows, the chapel will allow panoramic views of the beautiful landscape surrounding it. Its nearly transparent structure will sanction different patterns of light, creating an ever-changing interior influenced by nature’s seasons.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am to have my name associated with this chapel,” said Bill Oliver. “Not only the chapel and what it is going to do for our patients and staff, but also the fact that Pine Grove has always made me proud, my whole career.”
Oliver noted the pride he felt from the many success stories of people who had gone through Pine Grove and come out healed. “That pride comes from seeing the people who have been affected by Pine Grove and returning to their lives,” he said. “That’s the passion we needed to pursue for the community and patients we were serving. Pine Grove is the first, if not only, national center of excellence in this area. That’s mind boggling and easy to be proud of. Last year, Pine Grove had 13,000 patient encounters. That’s a city in itself. We’ve had patients from every state represented here and several foreign countries.
“I thank the contributors who have donated to this project. This project is important for the patients, their families, and our employees. When completed, I hope this chapel is the place where so many people will find serenity and peace in their lives as they are trying to deal with the challenges of the world, and I truly hope this is where their prayers begin to be answered.”
A generous donation by the Mapp Family Foundation will allow them the naming rights for a meditative patio at the back of the chapel.
Generous donations by Hattiesburg Clinic to the project will give them naming rights to the Bell Tower. The Bell Tower will include three separate bells, each representing four of the 12 steps to recovery. The first and lowest hanging bell can be rung by one individual after completing the first four steps. Subsequently, the second and third bells will require the help of another person(s), upon completion of the second and third set of steps. The Bell Tower will stand as a symbol of continued progress in each patient’s fight for victory over mental illness, while strengthening the idea that as we heal, we must reach out and seek help from others.
“Hattiesburg Clinic is proud to be a part of this great addition to Pine Grove,” said Dr. Bryan Batson, MD, Chief Executive Office, Hattiesburg Clinic. “On a personal level, as a physician who has practiced in this community for over 20 years, I have been so grateful to have Pine Grove as an outstanding resource for my patients,” he said. “The connection between physical and mental health is very real and the work being done on this campus plays just as important a role as the things we do in the exam room or the operating room every day. That connection is very real and this campus exemplifies that.
“As partners in the communities we serve, Hattiesburg Clinic and Forrest General have a long history of working together to improve the lives of the patients who trust us with their care. Our work as organizations is so intertwined, just like the links between physical and mental health. This bell tower is symbolic of these connections with each other, our organizations and our patients.
Pine Grove Administrator, Debbie Sanford, MBA, MS, RN, said this project had been a long time coming. “This has been in our thoughts for almost 20 years,” she said, thanking the employees of Pine Grove and Forrest Health for their donations through their years of giving through the Employee Campaign. “They have remained steadfast in their hopes and dreams that this would be a reality.”
Sanford said the Spiritual Grounds were a multi-faceted project that developed over several years. “It was the idea of Joe Pack Arnold, former director of Spiritual Services,” Sanford said. “As he worked with patients, he identified a need to have a quiet, spiritual place where patients could pray, meditate, and contemplate on their journey of recovery. All of the elements of these Spiritual Grounds are used on a regular basis by our patients.”
The funds raised to build the Spiritual Grounds came from charitable donors – Pine Grove alumni, family members, the community and supporters of the organization who support Pine Grove’s mission. Funds have been committed to the project through the Forrest General Healthcare Foundation, who has overseen the Pine Grove project as well as many other projects across Forrest Health campuses. One hundred percent of every donation goes directly towards projects that improve the healthcare experience in South Mississippi. Since 2009, the Foundation has raised more than $15 million.
Jeff Cook, Forrest Health CEO/President, thanked Bill and Becky Oliver, “whose foot and fingerprints are all over the campus. This is another great example of you being involved and creating some patient-centric spaces that help in the healing and recovery beyond the medical and healthcare services.”
“I’m a faithful guy,” Cook said. “I truly believe that spirituality gives a person a sense of purpose. From that purpose you typically can find hope. In a lot of that hope you can find your mental health or well-being. I think this space is going to be fantastic for the services we offer here on campus. I am thankful to see this day arrive. Thank you to Forrest General employees. It’s sometimes hard to understand the impact they have on the Foundation, but many, many of our employees give to the Foundation and is a huge impact in the community. These spaces don’t happen unless the community comes together to make it happen.”
For more information about the Forrest General Health Foundation, visit ForrestHealth.org.
