The new 8,400-square-foot UMC Brackenridge Tranquility Garden will be formally dedicated Wednesday, June 20, with ceremonies beginning at 9:30 a.m. The garden is located between the hospital and the Clinical Education Center at Brackenridge, on the south side of the walkways linking the two buildings.
Seton associates and others on site are welcome to
attend. Guests are invited to walk the garden after the
ceremonies and enjoy refreshments. Live music will be played by
The Stray Bullets, featuring Dr. Tom
Caven, UMCB VP of Medical Affairs.
The garden offers staff, patients, their families and friends
moments of quiet, serenity and escape from the stresses
experienced in dealing with medical trauma, illness and other
ailments. The new garden was financed by donations from
community leaders, Seton Healthcare associates and
others.
Margaret Kuempel Brady, daughter of the late Texas Rep. Edmund Kuempel, who died Nov. 4, 2010, in Austin from cardiac arrest, will be featured speaker. Rep. Kuempel, R-Seguin, had been a patient at UMC Brackenridge after his earlier, 2009 heart attack and was touched by the work of medical personnel.
He said at the time, "I was born at Seton and born again at Brack!" In appreciation, he helped spearhead the Tranquility Garden fundraising effort that was later championed by his family and fellow Texas House members after his death.
Sister Helen Brewer, chair of the Seton Healthcare Board of Trustees, will offer a blessing at the dedication. Other speakers will be Mary Herman, chair of the Tranquility Garden Committee; Donna Broberg, UMCB Volunteer Program ambassador; Greg Hartman, UMC Brackenridge president and CEO; and Kate Henderson, UMC Brackenridge COO.
Seton is proud to have four hospitals – the only hospitals in Central Texas - that have earned the