Medical Intensive Care Unit staff help create mosaic celebrating teamwork and the power of art
Hershey Medical Center’s Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) team put their creative talents to work and unveiled the results of their artistic collaboration with a local glass artist on March 2. The large, colorful glass mosaic depicting a feather symbolizes the beauty in teamwork, gratitude for the loving and excellent care colleagues provide and the power of art to offer a moment of awe and reflection.
Dr. Margaret Wojnar of Pulmonary Medicine championed the project. Artist Linda Billet helped more than 100 members of the Medical Intensive Care Unit create small glass tiles in a pop-up art studio in their break room. Billet took the tiles home, baked them in her kiln and created the stunning mosaic.
Mona Miliner, vice president of operations, attended the mosaic unveiling, along with Claire de Boer, director of Center Stage Arts in Health, Michele Szkolnicki, senior vice president and chief nursing officer, Wojnar and Billet.
The arts have a special place in Penn State Health history. When Penn State College of Medicine opened in 1967, the Department of Humanities was a founding department, and the first of its kind in the country. Dean George Harrell and E.A. Vastyan, founding chair, believed that integrating arts and humanities in health care builds empathy, communication and teamwork skills.