BUSM Students Bring Some Color To Pediatrics

BUSM students took a break from the routine last weekend for a different kind of hands on work.

Working in small shifts, a group of 30 BUSM students, from first to fourth years, spent the weekend painting a mural on the wall of Boston Medical Center’s pediatric inpatient unit.

Clara Zhu, BUSM Class of 2018 who was one of the students who organized the project, said she was inspired to take on the mural after hearing about how patients benefit when healing in a creative and positive environment.

“Art is important in hospitals. Healing is not just about curing the disease, but curing the person,” explained Zhu.

After a month of planning, the mural was completed in just one weekend. Within a day of calling for volunteers, Zhu had heard back from 30 students eager to get involved.

Zhu said she was overwhelmed by the response as well as by the enthusiasm she received from Dr. Robert Vinci, chief and chair of pediatrics at BMC/BUSM who personally took her on a tour of the pediatric areas and made sure the students had what they needed for the project.

Not only did it give them a break from studying, but it also gave these students an opportunity to integrate the arts and medicine.

“It was great to get students from different years interacting on the same project. It’s amazing the diversity in our school and the different talents people bring to the table,” Zhu said. “At BUSM, we learn to heal the whole person and not just the disease. This was a chance for us to get involved in making the hospital a better place.”

With the pediatrics department currently under construction, there’s the opportunity for new murals in the future. Zhu and her classmates are planning more projects in the future, potentially branching into adult wards, such as the oncology department.