The students in Juls Rathje’s art classes at Genoa and Heritage middle schools wanted to offer messages of hope, well wishes and love to patients and families at Mount Carmel St. Ann’s Hospital.
With bright colors and bold typography, they kept the messages on the cards they designed for them simple: “Have Hope.” “You are loved.” “Believe.” “No matter the storm, there’s always light.”
“The hope of the cards from the students is to show support to our patients,” said Nicole Richendollar, a patient experience officer at Mount Carmel St. Ann's, Mount Carmel Lewis Center and Mount Carmel New Albany. “We know that patients can feel isolated when hospitalized for lengthy periods of time. The cards created bring joy which helps with the human connection for our patients.”
Students produced roughly three dozen cards for the hospital last week and plan to create watercolor paintings for patients next week and in February. The cards will be given to COVID patients and their family members.
“It’s really beautiful that we were invited to offer art as a way to create hope in patients,” Rathje said. “Our students really enjoyed making artwork and knowing it would make an impact and help other people feel appreciated knowing that we’re thinking of them here at Genoa and Heritage.”
Students said they were thankful for the opportunity to create cards and hopefully help lift patients’ spirits.
Genoa seventh-grader Dominic Faiella sketched a snowman on the back of his card and wrote encouraging messages, hoping the person who receives his card feels better soon.
“Some people are going through hard stuff and I wanted to do something that would give them motivation,” he said.