A Nurse’s Prayer
A Nurse’s Prayer
August 2023
Sometimes, it’s about the little things. Other times, its about the months-long art projects; this was one of those times. Let’s begin at the beginning – Jose, our head RN and Director of Health Services, decided in early July that his office in the medical department needed to be spruced up a bit. So, like any smart human would do, he contacted the TRU department to see if they could help him create a custom art piece. Donna, one of our Cog Therapists, had plenty of ideas to share with Jose, and she even had the perfect client in mind to work on this project. After some discussion, the official commission was for a custom collage piece that would represent Jose and the multiple aspects of his life.
Donna chose Tyree to work on Jose’s collage for a few reasons. First, for practical purposes, she thought Tyree was one of the best clients at creating collages and at spray painting. Second, Tyree is a fellow Army veteran like Jose. Third, Donna wanted to use this opportunity not only to connect two veterans through a fun project, but also to work on Tyree’s cognitive therapy goals.
An initial interview was set up between Tyree and Jose so that Tyree could understand the kind of collage that Jose wanted. Jose had three themes in mind: his career as a male nurse, his U.S. Army experience, and his Puerto Rican heritage.
Once the specifications were established, Tyree and Donna went to work, holding sessions 1-2 times per week from mid-July to the beginning of September when the piece was completed. Donna used the project to intentionally target Tyree’s goals of attention, processing, memory, and convergent thinking. For example, part of Tyree’s therapy was to interpret the idea of “the Army” in the collage – what did Jose mean by the Army, and how would Tyree represent that on the canvas? To fully explain the details of his thinking, Tyree delivered the collage to Jose with a placard describing his process. The placard was titled, For a Wonderful Murse, which you can find below. Donna was there to witness the exchange between the two Army veterans and described it as, “…just about the sweetest thing ever.”
Save one life, you’re a hero. Save 100 lives, you’re a nurse.
Unknown
For a Wonderful Murse
By Tyree
Before beginning this project, I interviewed Jose to find out what is important to him and what he likes. Jose is from Puerto Rico. He was in 19D, a Calvary Scout in the US ARMY. He was good on the phone, travelled in tanks, crossed bridges, flew in helicopters, and did a lot of searching.
In order to create this canvas collage, I spray painted the background camouflage in army colors of green, black and brown. Then I made a barricade out of repurposed Styrofoam I spray painted and added trees, soldiers, walls and barricades from a bin of donated toys. I glued on rocks, tanks, a helicopter, a bridge and soldiers that were also donated.
The Nurse’s Prayer symbolizes a prayer for all the nurses, especially Jose, so I printed it out and framed it. The other frame contains the Florence Nightingale Pledge, which states the wonderful things a nurse does to help people get better. These were both items that Jose requested be included. On the top of the collage I added a Puerto Rican flag because Jose is happy he is from Puerto Rico. I made the flag out of repurposed, donated fabric, which I cut and glued to cardboard before attaching to the frame. I made the “Murse” design on a Cricut machine out of leather. Murse means “male nurse.” I created this image to look like Jose, who has a short beard and is always smiling. Jose agreed to a picture of himself on the canvas, so I applied a picture of him as a memory of him in service. I added a 19 Delta emblem, standing for a Calvary Scout, because he was a Scout ensuring there was no danger or traps for the troops. Lastly, I cut Jose’s name out of vinyl using the Cricut and attached it on the canvas, so everyone knows It’s for him and every time he sees it, I hope it brightens his day.
We all appreciate Jose’s service in the army and as a murse.
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