SMH celebrates National Hospital Week
Story and photos by Tony Pilkington / Breckenridge Texan
Stephens Memorial Hospital celebrated National Hospital Week with a cookout for the public on Friday, May 12. Before the cookout, employees of Stephens Memorial Hospital gathered for a prayer circle on Monday morning at the hospital’s helicopter landing pad.
During the service, Rev. Otho Noggle stood inside the circle and talked about the role the olive tree in the Bible and the history of the healing properties of olive oil.
Noggle then performed an “Anointing of the Hands with Virgin Olive Oil” ceremony. He took a small bottle of olive oil and walked around to each person in the circle and poured a small amount of the oil on their hands and rubbed it in. He then closed the ceremony with a prayer.
The ceremony has been held at the hospital’s helipad for the past several years, Noggle said.
An added bonus to this year’s celebration during the cookout was a Dunk-a-Director contest for hospital staff to raise money for the Senior Meal program. Hospital staff members paid to dunk any director they of their choosing in the dunking booth.
Rev. Otho Noggle pours virgin olive oil on SMH CEO Brian Roland’s hands during an Anointing of the Hands ceremony and prayer circle at Stephens Memorial Hospital on Friday, May 12. The employees gathered for the prayer circle at the hospital’s helicopter landing pad.
Stephens Memorial Hospital employee Pete Cooper, with maintenance and plant operations, grills hotdogs during the cookout celebrating Hospital Week.
An SMH employees tosses a softball at the dunking booth during the Dunk-a-Director contest. Hospital staff members paid to dunk any director they chose in the dunking booth to raise money for the Senior Meal program.
Cutline, top photo: Firefighter Cody Riddle is served a hamburger during the SMH Cookout celebrating Hospital Week. Riddle along with Firefighter Bret Chaney stopped by to fill up the dunking booth with water for the Dunk-a-Director contest.
Click here to see more photos of the “Anointing of the Hands with Virgin Olive Oil” ceremony.
Click here to see more photos from the cookout and Dunk-a-Director contest.
