Our Open House, held on May 19th was a huge success thank to our amazing community and all those who helped make it possible. We would like to thank all the radio stations, newspapers, and magazine teams who came to help us. Also, we’re extremely grateful for all of our team members who worked tirelessly to bring all the pieces together for this magical day.
“The building was a battery already charged with positive energy. We wanted to create a healing building—the good feeling is already there. The building is an employee in a real
way and deserves what we give our employees, which is dignity, respect and recompense for its service.” – Stephen Loosli, CEO
“I always felt that, if the stars aligned, I could practice medicine more purposefully… the stars did align, and it felt inspirational and felt like it was what I needed to do.” – Dr. Jeff Baker, Chief Medical Director
When the church’s doors reopen, patients and the public alike will see how respect for the past combined with the best innovations of today can yield the perfect space for achieving holistic health.
“The whole goal was to restore that building like we are restoring. That’s the metaphor.” – Dr. Jeff Baker
“It just seems like everything he is doing makes you feel better, and when you walk into the new building, it’s not like a doctor’s office. You feel a warm, real comfortable feeling. I always just leave there feeling encouraged.” – Kayla Smith, Dr. baker’s patient for nearly 20 years
First dedicated for religious purposes by Heber J. Grant in 1937, Dr. Jeff Baker thought to ask Elder John H. Groberg, general authority emeritus of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to re-dedicate the building to a new mission of healing and comfort to the patients that we serve.
Elder John H. Groberg
Elder Groberg is perhaps better known from the film version of his life, “The Other Side of Heaven.” Elder Groberg and his siblings grew up attending church in the historic Idaho Falls third ward building. He fondly remembers hiding in secret places in order to scare the janitors. He fondly remembers setting up a slide one year when the gym was used as a spook alley. He and his siblings shared many wonderful stories of plays, daddy daughter dances, and christmas concerts held in the building. He and his siblings kept a keen eye on us as we renovated the building. After touring the building at the open house we received his enthusiastic approval even going so far as to say that we had “while respecting its past we had improved the building in every way”.
He enthusiastically agreed to the re-dedication and pronounced a blessing on the building that “all those that would come thru its doors would find peace and comfort and healing within its walls and that the building would attract the knowledgeable and skilled medical staff needed to be a beacon going forward.” It was a wonderful experience and we are grateful for the connection from the past to the present that Elder Groberg represented.