Caregivers at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing are marking the two-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic with a display of their own artwork.
The makeshift art gallery in the lobby of Sparrow’s downtown campus is mostly a collection of paintings and drawings.
One depicts a tranquil tropical beach and is entitled Escape.
Another, though, shows the outline image of the United States turned on its side to reveal a threatening face shouting at a cowering figure in the corner.
It’s called Angry America, Please Stop.
Sparrow physician Amy Odom says the art helped herself and her peers to cope with their feelings as they struggled to care for COVID patients.
“And so, whether the piece is about hope or it’s about the angry emotion they’re having in the moment, being able to put it externally really is part of the process of working through how this has been affecting all of us,” said Odom.
Patient experience coordinator Judy Polaskey created a brightly colored plate depicting the sun, the Sparrow logo and the phrase, A Family of Heroes.
Her project took longer than she expected because her plate developed a seven-inch crack.
“And while I was filling it in and repairing it, it made me think of our patients who come in and they’re broken, and they need somebody to help them get well and whole again,” Polaskey said.
The display will remain in the Sparrow Hospital lobby through April 15.
