Memorial Medical Center dedicates chapel to Rev. Dr. Margaret Short

Memorial Medical Center (MMC) dedicated its chapel Aug. 3 in honor of the Rev. Dr. Margaret Short, who started the hospital’s pastoral care program in 1997. Short retired May 21 after 24 years as MMC’s Pastoral Care Department director.

The dedication and the chapel plaque honoring Short “celebrate the legacy of an individual who has been so important to Memorial Medical Center,” MMC CEO John Harris said during the dedication ceremony.

Providing spiritual care to its patients, along with health care, is important to MMC, Harris said.

“This hospital believes in that holistic care,” Short said.

Harris said Short has “always been there to extend her faith, to extend her love, to extend her spirituality.”

 MMC wanted to “do something in her memory that would last forever,” he said, and so it dedicated the chapel “to her legacy.”

Under Short’s leadership, the MMC ministry has provided 24-hour, on-call, bilingual spiritual and emotional support to thousands of patients, visitors, physicians and MMC staff of all faiths. Except for 2020 (because of the health pandemic), Short and the program’s many volunteer chaplains and the Catholic hospital ministry have averaged 13,000 to 21,000 annual visits at MMC.

MMC Chief Medical Officer Dolores Gomez, who has been Short’s direct supervisor at MMC for the past five years, also spoke at the chapel dedication ceremony, which was attended by hospital staff, visitors and volunteers.

Along with a photograph of Short, the plaque bears this inscription: “Rev. Dr. Margaret Short, Anglican Priest Chaplain & Pastoral Counselor. Through Margaret Short’s dedication and persistence, thousands of patients, staff and providers found spiritual strength during both celebratory and difficult times. Margaret developed a vast network of clergy to serve the needs of our community through strength and perseverance. This dedication to others is the true legacy of Margaret Short. She blessed Memorial Medical Center for 24 years with her uplifting presence. To God be the glory. Le agradecemos mucho su servicio a nuestra comunidad medica (We thank you so much for your service to our medical community). ¡Vaya con Dios!”