By Abbie Nistler

Project Art Heals, headed by Emily Hagn, used visual art as a symbol of therapeutic healing medical burnout and loss throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The project, a mural currently displayed at the U of U Hospital, used medical waste, vaccination vials and mementos from patients, workers and individuals involved in or lost during the pandemic in an attempt to acknowledge health disparities that were amplified during that time. These disparities include income in different areas, access to space that enabled for social distancing, access to vaccines, and ability to take time off work to access health care.

Hagn described her motivation for this project as a search for a symbol of the healing journey. “I asked for the COVID vaccine vial (when I was vaccinated) so that I could use it to make a tree ornament or perhaps drill a hole in it and attach it to my work lanyard. I wanted something to symbolize our path to healing. I wanted to honor our patients, honor our staff, honor our community and honor science. I never made that vial trinket because I put my sights on something bigger: something to pay a grander, collective tribute to what we have been through and continue to go through, to those we have lost to COVID, to the healthcare workers that continue to show up every day to fight this pandemic and to the resiliency within each of us.”

Hagn and her team collected vaccine vials from mass vaccination sites with the help of the Salt Lake County Health Department and U of U Health’s Pharmacy Department. She also collected clean healthcare waste, such as from November 2021 to February 2021. Donation sites were set up where people could donate clean healthcare waste, items that they found meaningful throughout the pandemic or items related to individuals that were lost during that time. The project targeted engagement with communities most impacted by the pandemic. Hagn and her teams collected memorabilia from January 2021 to February 2022 before presenting the materials to artist Heidi Calega, who used the items to create a mural. By May 2022, Calega had completed the mosaic art piece, and the sculpture was installed in the U of U Health main hospital’s foyer. A ceremony was held for its installation and to honor healthcare employees that worked hard during the pandemic. This SCIF project is the perfect example of how sustainability can be applied to a wide variety of concepts, including art and healing from a global pandemic.