SPOKANE, Wash. — A routine renovation project at Sacred Heart Medical Center led to an unexpected discovery when workers found three religious statues hidden inside the walls of the hospital’s engineering shop.
Nathan Aker, an apprentice for the hospital’s engineer shop, was working with the groundskeeping crew when they decided to take down a wall to create more space in the shop. What they found inside surprised everyone.
“As we pulled out the egress wall, there were three crates just sitting right in the middle behind the wall, and they were all enclosed with peanut packing,” Aker said. “Once we started pulling it away, we saw a face and we’re like, oh my gosh,”
The three religious statues — two depicting Mary and one of Saint Joseph — had been carefully preserved and hidden away in the walls of Sacred Heart Medical Center for decades.
To solve the mystery of how the statues ended up in the wall, Sacred Heart’s chief mission officer Justin Hurtubise reached out to former groundskeepers who had worked at the hospital over the years.
“One of them was able to share that [there used] to be a pool for the school of nursing and for the sisters as well,” Hurtubise said.
Hurtubise explained that the statues likely stood poolside.
The swimming pool is long gone, but today the hospital’s healing garden stands in its place – a space designed for relaxation and mindfulness.
Sacred Heart Medical Center, which operates under Providence health system, has deep religious roots that can be found throughout the campus. The hospital is still working to determine the exact age of the statues and where they should be permanently displayed.
“I imagine they were placed there not to hide them but ensure that they were preserved and protected because of how treasured they were,” Hurtubise said.
However, one statue will remain close to where it was discovered. The groundskeeping crew, who found spiritual significance in the discovery, will keep one of the three statues in their facility.
“They felt like the statues have been secretly protecting them for decades and so we want to ensure that they still have that sense of spiritual protection,” Hurtubise said.
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