CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Atrium Health is finding a way to connect with patients, staff, and visitors with uplifting artwork in the hospital.
Art can serve many purposes inside Atrium Health, each mural placed on the walls aims to bring comfort to every person the moment they walk inside.
Brian Stepien is one of the organizers of the artwork concept. He understands not every trip to the hospital is a positive one.
He wanted to help change that so he organized the idea of using art to help people cope with their emotions inside the hospital setting.
“Anything that could take your mind off of what you’re here for is a wonderful thing,” Stepien said.
Local artists like Angela Gonzalez designed each piece inside the main lobby.
“It’s very important to have art in hospitals,” Gonzalez said. “It will help the patients, it will help the family members who come to accompany them, you will have the staff it will give a sense of serenity, feeling more like a home.”
“If I can help someone with my artwork, it’s definitely something that I want to keep doing in the future,” Gonzalez said.
Stepien said the hospital sees around 3,000 people walk through the lobby daily. Their hope is to uplift spirits with every visitor.
“We see people wandering through here and taking a break from visiting a loved one upstairs and coming down here and kind of wandering through the gallery,” Stepien said. “You see staff doing the same thing. So it’s great to see folks taking advantage of having this here.”
