Jewish patients and family members now have a spot they can call their own at the University of Miami Hospital after the Civic Center institution unveiled a “bikur cholim room” with the help of Israeli Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger.

“There are a lot of rooms in the hospital,” Metzger, who affixed a mezuzah to the room’s doorpost, said at the Jan. 25 grand opening. “But this is a small room with a big heart, a good heart. It will allow visitors to feel at home. That is so special and important.”

Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Yochanon Klein, whose Chabad at the Civic Center offers medical referrals, kosher meals, transportation and other services to Jewish patients, calls the new addition on the hospital’s eighth floor a welcome project.

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“It gives people a kosher place to run to escape for a moment the hectic world of the hospital,” explained Klein, whom the hospital credited with helping its administration better understand the local Jewish community. “Many people come here for long-term treatment, and their family members are always in need for place to rest for a minute.”

Rabbis Yehuda and Yaacov Kaploun of the Moses and Aaron Foundation also worked with the hospital on the project.

Stuart Miller, a University of Miami trustee whose family donated $100 million to the university’s medical school in honor of the late Leonard M. Miller, cut the ribbon spanning the room’s entrance.

The room consists of two spaces connected by an open doorway. The kitchen area has two refrigerators and microwaves in keeping with Jewish dietary laws mandating the separation of meat and dairy products, while the adjoining living area is furnished with a sofa and tables. It also contains a small library dedicated in memory of Mordechai Gershon Schapiro by his father, Rabbi Gavriel Schapiro, senior librarian of rabbinic manuscripts at the Library of Agudas Chasidei Chabad in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The Hebrew term bikur cholim refers to the Jewish commandment of visiting and providing comfort to those who are sick.

“Members of Jewish communities throughout North and South America will now feel even more comfortable when they use the world-class medical facilities at University of Miami Hospital,” stated Dr. Pascal J. Goldschmidt, dean of the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine.