Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin Tower at UPMC Presbyterian prioritizes spiritual care and religious inclusion
'May everyone who walks through these doors benefit with increased health, healing, renewal, love, and peace'
Months before opening its doors to patients, the Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin Tower at UPMC Presbyterian welcomed faith leaders, hospital administrators and guests for an interfaith blessing and dedication. The Oct. 13 ceremony featured remarks from local clergy and opportunities to visit spiritually-centered spaces, including a kosher hospitality suite.
“In Jewish tradition, a blessing is recited on special occasions by individuals, and by the community,” Rabbi Eli Seidman told more than 100 attendees. “We put into words our gratitude to God for life, and for the privilege of witnessing these major milestones. Today, the inauguration and blessing of this center of healing definitely qualifies as a monumental milestone in the life of our community, for which we celebrate and praise God.”
Seidman, a chaplain who spent 25 years as the Jewish Association on Aging’s spiritual leader and director of pastoral care, filled in at the Oct. 13 ceremony for Rabbi Larry Heimer, the former manager of pastoral care at UPMC Presbyterian and UPMC Montefiore.
“Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this special moment. We thank you, Hashem, today for allowing all of us to reach this milestone that will benefit so many people. We dedicate this building to you,” Seidman said.
“May everyone who walks through these doors benefit with increased health, healing, renewal, love, and peace. May you bless all of us and our healthcare team. May the team always be grounded in compassion, and may its work here amplify life and peace, for you are our Father and our ultimate healer. We are all your children, and in your holy name we pray. Let us say Amen.”
Joining Seidman in blessing the 900,000-square-foot tower, which is slated to officially welcome patients on Jan. 24, 2027, according to UPMC representatives, was Fr. Dozie Egbe, lead chaplain, UPMC Presby/Montefiore Spiritual Care; Eleftherios Constantine of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral – Oakland; Imam Chris Caras of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh – Oakland; and the Rev. Gaea Thompson, manager of UPMC Presbyterian Spiritual Care.
The 17-story tower, which reportedly cost $1.3 billion, was supported by a $65 million gift from Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin and the Kamin Family Foundation.
Along with thanking the Kamins and others for their backing and leadership, UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside President Sandy Rader praised artist Norie Sato and singer Victory Brinker.
Speaking to attendees about her work, which adorns the tower’s Spirituality Center, Sato said she relied on glass mosaic, digitally printed laminated glass and mixed media on paper.
Brinker, a Latrobe native and teen opera star, who sings in six languages with a four-octave range, performed.
Following Tuesday’s ceremony, attendees toured spaces, including the Spirituality Center, patient rooms, a fitness area, an ablution room — designed for ritual washing and physical purification before prayer or worship — and a kosher hospitality suite, complete with two sinks, two refrigerators, warming drawers and a large table for families to comfortably sit and eat while loved ones receive care.
Carole Kamin, president of the Ladies Hospital Aid Society, and a board member of UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside and the Eye and Ear Foundation, said she and the Ladies Hospital Aid Society spent years working to ensure the hospital provided a specifically kosher-designated area.
The space, which boasts beautiful windows, new cabinetry and a coffee station, also features on its wall two glass mosaics. One mosaic bears the word “nourish” in English; the other mosaic repeats the word in Hebrew.
Kamin called the room “wonderful,” and said there’s a “responsibility” to ensure community members have what they need.
Michael Kamin, of the Kamin Family Foundation, said he previously visited the tower before construction was complete.
Touring the site now, and seeing the kosher hospitality suite, is a reminder that “perseverance pays off, and to have your champions is important,” he said. “My parents have been champions of employees, caregivers, nurses, doctors of UPMC, particularly through the Ladies Hospital Aid Society.”
Watching their vision become reality, he added, “means the world to me.”
John Krolicki, vice president of Facilities & Support Services at UPMC, told the Chronicle he spent nearly a decade speaking with Heimer about the hospital’s ability to meet families’ needs.
Whether it’s ensuring the eruv covered Oakland, or creating a space within the hospital where families could halachically warm their food on Shabbat, “I thought, ‘Well, we can make that happen,’” Krolicki said.
There’s a desire to be “inclusive of all faiths,” he continued. “That’s what this place is about: everybody being inclusive, but yet really working together as a team.”
During the tour, the hospital administrator watched as attendees entered the kosher-designated room, opened refrigerator doors, moved chairs, marveled at views and admired stainless steel appliances.
Several attendees thanked Krolicki for supporting kosher-conscious hospital visitors.
Such praise is “reaffirming,” Krolicki told the Chronicle. “When they said it was life-changing for them, I said that’s what we wanted to do. It’s life-changing medicine, but it’s also got to be life- changing from a spiritual perspective too.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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