Cancer Center Donors Share Their Blessings • H1N1: Are YOU Safe? • Health and Events Calendar
Hope Tree: A Symbol of Hope and Healing
Someone facing a life-threatening disease needs quality medical care, support from friends
and family, but most of all—hope.
A 13-foot, majestic steel and bronze sculpture commissioned by St. Helena Hospital for installation in the new Martin-O’Neil Cancer Center atrium symbolizes that hope. Patients, visitors and staff viewing the piece will have a powerful visual reminder of the strength of the human spirit.
“Connection and the patient experience are so important to the healing environment,” says JoAline Olson, Vice President, Clinical Innovations, Adventist Health. “The sculpture is a beautiful piece of art. But it is also a tangible symbol of hope and the interconnectedness of the patient, family and staff as they go through a life-changing and hopefully, a life-enriching experience.”
Finding Hope in Symbolism
“Hope Tree is designed to be a vehicle of healing for so many people,” says the artist, Carol Jeanotilla, founder and president of Big3D Productions, Inc., in Elizabeth, Colo. “It offers encouragement and hope to patients with cancer and their families. It also provides inspiration to the hospital staff—it can be difficult for them to watch thepatients they care for struggle through the disease.”
As Jeanotilla worked on the piece, the design evolved from its original concept.
“When considering the type of tree for the sculpture, I gradually realized that it was not important,” she says. “I chose to model on bonsai, which is a technique for growing a tree, not a particular species of tree.
“A bonsai isn’t allowed to grow the way it wants to. It’s bound and directed, very much like what happens to your life once you are diagnosed with cancer. Suddenly you are pushed in one direction. Plans you may have made—a vacation, a new job, whatever—may be put on hold as you deal with the disease. Like the bonsai, you are forced to adapt within certain constrictions, yet you can still grow into something very
beautiful.”
The branches are platinum-colored and wild; fortuitously, Hope Tree is situated directly under a skylight, and the branches appear to reach for the sky. The leaves—copper-colored to reflect the light—are designed as half leaf and half feather, “because hope is such an ethereal thing,” Jeanotilla says. The branches are also covered with symbols of hope from Eastern, Western, African, Aboriginal and Native American cultures. “St. Helena Hospital employees helped choose the symbols and icons that are carved into the tree, so that the messages of hope speak to many people of different backgrounds and faiths,” she says.
The grape: A symbol of hope
for health, prosperity and
many more gatherings with
those we love. The grapes
represent one of 48 symbols
of hope that can be found
on the Hope Tree sculpture
inside our new cancer center.
Spreading Abundant Hope
“It’s the goal of St. Helena Hospital to create an environment of hope and healing, and art has the power to inspire,” says Olson. “Hope Tree offers patients and staff dealing with the realities of treatment a chance to pause, reflect and gain perspective.”The St. Helena Hospital Foundation is seeking sponsors for this sculpture who share its philosophy of adding beautiful art to the patient experience. If you are interested, please contact the Foundation at 707-963-6208.
Information in Well NOW comes from a wide range of medical experts. If you have any concerns or questions about specific content that may affect your health, please contact your health care provider. Images may be from one or more of these sources: ©Jupiterimages, ©iStock, ©Getty Images, ©Fotolia. ©2009 Priority Publications, Inc. priorityresults.com