Wednesday, June 8th, 2016

Today was our first rest day of the trip. Everyone much appreciated the extra couple hours of sleep, and we had a great day here. We went on an art tour of University Hospital Case Medical Center. We weren’t told what we’d be doing at the hospital, so when we first got there we were a bit confused about what type of tour we were going on. It ended up being really great.

The Art Curator, Tom Huck, took us around and showed us many pieces that the hospital has acquired. Some notable pieces are by Chihuly, Peter Max, Lichtenstein, and Jun Kaneko. Tom explained that art is a way to help people without actually doing anything to them. People come to the hospital to receive medication or have surgery, but art is a way to help them subconsciously be in a better place. I think this philosophy is absolutely true. The hospital had art everywhere you looked; on the walls, in the gardens of the cafeteria, outside of the elevators, and on rooftop gardens. One of our favorite areas was a rooftop garden that was designed for the children’s UH Rainbow Center. It had brightly colored furniture, recorded nature sounds that changed as the day progressed, origami looking sculptures, kaleidoscopes, and fake grass the children could walk on any time of the year. There were also windows overlooking the garden for the children that couldn’t be outside so that they could still enjoy it.

The Cancer Center was the other area that I thought was incredible. It was built five years ago, and when they were designing it they asked for patients’ and families’ opinions about how it should be decorated. The feedback they received was that they did not want to look around and see photographs of smiling faces everywhere. They wanted to feel like they were in nature. As soon as I walked in, I could see that they took that advice to heart. Some walls were wood panels, there were flower designs in the glass on doors, there were installations of flowers made from MRIs and X-rays, and instead of having window treatments the windows were fogged. It was really astonishing. Tom ended the tour by showing us the hospital’s latest acquisition, a giant ceramic sculpture by Jun Kaneko, a piece he has worked for two years to fundraise for. He was so proud. It was really encouraging to see how much he cared about providing a pleasurable experience for everyone in the hospital even if it was not directly related to their medical treatment. The team had free time after lunch, and everyone scattered. Some went to the Cleveland Art Museum, some went to the Natural History Museum, and others just explored. We’re back on our bikes tomorrow to make our way through Ohio.

DR