Sonrise Online Event

One of my favorite aspects of my job is giving people tours of Marisol Health.  I’m always surprised by how many questions people have about our physical property: What medical equipment do you have?  Where is your chapel located? Can I come see your prayer garden?  More-often-than-not, my response has been a joyful, “When can you come by for a tour?”  I love giving tours because showing people the space allows us to communicate the purpose and the mission of Marisol Health.  Well, in this age of pandemic, shelter-in-place and safer-at-home, it doesn’t look like I’ll be giving many tours soon, so today I’d like to take you on a quick “stay-at-home” tour of our clinics.  This won’t be a virtual tour (there’s an idea for the future!) but rather this will be an old-fashioned description of what we’ve done with the properties the Lord has given us that we call Marisol Health.

In order to understand our clinics better, a brief history of Marisol Health is necessary.  Marisol Health opened its doors in July 2016, with clinics in both Denver and Lafayette. From the day we opened, our goal has been to provide both comprehensive medical care and social services to women and families in need. Prior to opening Marisol Health, our individual clinics ran as two separate pregnancy centers, one named Real Choices in Lafayette and the other being Lighthouse Women’s Center in Denver. The basic idea surrounding reopening as Marisol Health was centered around the need to provide high-quality medical care in our clinic and also how to build upon the important relationship that is established in an initial meeting with a vulnerable patient in order to best meet any social services needs she may have. In addition to meeting the needs of pregnant women in vulnerable situations, we also want to meet the medical and social services needs of women and families with other needs.  Often this includes providing a well-exam for women who are not pregnant, or meeting with the mother of a young teenager who needs assistance, or even meeting with patients who are seeking to become pregnant but are having trouble. Taking care of and supporting families is our goal—everyday.

As expected, the first place you go when entering one of our clinics is the waiting room.  We’ve intentionally designed our waiting room with the name ‘Marisol’ in mind.  This name holds a two-fold meaning.  The first meaning is that ‘Marisol’ is the title of Our Lady of Solitude.  The second meaning refers to natural beauty, with ‘mar’ meaning ‘sea’ and ‘sol’ meaning ‘sun’. Inside of each of our respective clinics, and especially in our waiting rooms, you’ll find warm colors, friendly greetings and soft music in the background. We hope that each person feels dignified just by being in our space, whether they are a patient, visitor, volunteer or staff. Our examination rooms, our social services office and lab fill the rest of our space, with inviting colors and peaceful tones as we meet the urgent and ongoing needs of the families we serve. This year alone, we have seen over 4,000 patients come through our doors, over 800 of those patients are pregnant, and of those women, over 500 of them are ‘unexpectedly pregnant’.  We want each patient to feel Our Lady’s calming presence and to recognize warmth, peace and beauty.

Our examination rooms and our social services office and lab fill the rest of our space, with inviting colors and peaceful tone.

In each of our clinics, we are blessed to have a Eucharistic Chapel where our Lord dwells and remains with us.  The chapel in each clinic is dedicated to St. Gianna Molla, a heroic mother and doctor who placed the life of her child before her own. We are grateful for the many priests who celebrate mass for us in our chapels and we give thanks to God for this sacred space of peace and comfort where not only do we offer our daily prayers for our patients, but often our patients retreat to this sacred space in prayer for God’s provision or seeking His comfort after a loss of their own.

Behind our Marisol Health Denver clinic, we are fortunate to have a beautiful prayer garden with the Stations of the Cross and a special Marian Garden.  Every day this garden hosts individuals from the community who pray the Way of the Cross or lift up prayers for Mary’s intercession in front of our beautiful Marian Garden. Bricks line the walkway of this special space at our clinic and we have sought to honor the generosity of so many individuals who support us with their names and messages inscribed in these bricks.  Especially in the spring and summer months when our garden is in full bloom, it’s a beautiful place that reflects the Glory of God.  Thank you to our many volunteers who plant flowers, pull weeds and keep this space thriving.

Of course, no tour of our clinics is truly complete without mentioning the essential component that allows us to accomplish our mission: the staff of Marisol Health.  I can honestly say that each member of our staff is a passionate and mission-driven employee, seeking to bring joy and truth to every individual we encounter.  Our staff constantly goes above-and-beyond to serve each woman who comes through our door by providing the best medical care and by offering intentional emotional support or supplies to meet their material needs.

We are grateful for this mission and ministry we have been entrusted with and are extremely humbled by the generosity of our community to be able to serve our families in this way.

Thanks for joining me for this tour! Come back any time!

Blessings,

Sara Lugo