Pulse
A New Leaf
Patients express themselves through clay.
By Lisa Harden
Cardiac and respiratory problems may have stolen Mary Lanpher’s ability to walk on her own and breathe without an oxygen tank, but they haven’t robbed her of her creativity. Lanpher is among 100 patients and their family members at Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul working with an artist from the Northern Clay Center to create a life-sized Healing Tree that will be displayed on a lobby wall after it is finished in the fall.
The initiative is part of Bethesda’s healing arts program, which uses both the performing and visual arts to help patients who are recovering from injury or living with neurological conditions. The Healing Tree is a first-of-its kind collaboration with the Northern Clay Center.
“I wanted to do something with art that celebrates the human spirit,” says Bob Payton, a therapeutic recreation specialist at Bethesda who is coordinating the partnership. “This is a fun project that takes patients’ minds off their pain and lifts their spirits.”
Working in small groups, patients and family members are making clay leaves that express their feelings about illness and the healing process. Sentiments that adorn individual leaves include “It’s a journey,” “He’s not finished with me yet,” “Thanks for taking care of my husband,” and Lanpher’s “Health, what a gift.”
Participants include inpatients from the hospital’s complex medical care, respiratory care, traumatic brain injury, and medical behavior units, as well members of the stroke, spinal cord, and memory care support groups and patients with Parkinson disease.
Artist Lucy Yogerst is designing the Healing Tree’s trunk, which will represent the hospital’s values—life, compassion, respect, and community. “Creativity is everywhere,” she says. “Watching this come together is really something.”
One participant, George Hoyt, who struggles to speak, had a twinkle in his eyes that spoke volumes as he painted a leaf alongside his wife and two granddaughters. “It’s not about the end product but the process,” says Erin McGee, one of two therapeutic recreation specialists helping with the Healing Tree project. “The exciting part is watching people who think they have limitations discover that art is something they can do.”