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Marian Regional Medical Center Unveils New Mural to Enhance Patient Experience

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Orcutt Academy art students completed the mural reflecting the local region

SANTA MARIA, CA – June 21, 2017 – Marian Regional Medical Center (MRMC) has unveiled a new mural for patients, completed in partnership with student volunteers from Orcutt Academy and reflects the landscape of the Santa Maria Valley.

Hospital leaders recognized the nine students and their teacher from Orcutt Academy at 3:30pm on Friday, June 16th, for their work and dedication to the completion of this mural. They were juniors and seniors in Dona Kintzi’s advanced art class at Orcutt Academy this past year. Four students attended the unveiling and received gift bags from the hospital. 

"I’m very proud of the students and how they persevered to the very end to do their very best," says Mrs. Kintzi. "It was a huge project, but they all worked well together and were moved by the thought of making a difference in a patient’s hospital stay."

The mural is twelve feet wide and eight feet tall and represents the scenery of the region. It is based on a series of photographs taken by the students themselves and is a brightly colored painting that mirrors the hilly backdrop seen from many patient rooms. Now when patients are outside on the terrace to find rest, they will be able to enjoy the beauty of not only the natural landscape but also the mural itself.

The vision to install a mural on the hospital’s terrace first came to Nickie Brayton, a respiratory therapist at the hospital, after she diligently cared for a sick patient who was in the hospital for an extended stay. When she arranged for the patient’s dog to surprise him on the terrace, Ms. Brayton witnessed what an incredible impact the simple gift of fresh air and being outside had on the patient. From that point forward, she was determined to make the terrace a place where patients could take refuge and find peace amidst the stress of being in the hospital.

The nine students who worked on the mural over a four-month period are: Jenna Ahrens, Alex Andrade, Tenley Childs, Victoria Jeffreys, Megan Manville, Cuin McCann, Jenna Souza, Arianna Vauclin, and Vincent Ward.

About Marian Regional Medical Center

Marian Regional Medical Center, located in Santa Maria, California, is rated among the top 10% in the nation for cardiac care, and is a designated STEMI Receiving Center (ST Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction) in Santa Barbara County. Santa Barbara County STEMI receiving programs earned the Silver Award from the American Heart Association for excellence in patient care. 

Marian has achieved prestigious designation as a Primary Stroke Center by the Joint Commission. In addition, Marian has received the Healthgrades Distinguished Hospital Clinical Excellence Award. The medical center’s cancer program is distinguished as the only comprehensive Community Cancer Center on the Central Coast. The need to meet the demand for quality, technologicallyadvanced care for a growing community led Marian to open its doors to a new state-of-the-art, 191-bed facility in the spring of 2012. 

The new facility houses the largest and most comprehensive perinatology/neonatology program on the Central Coast providing the most compassionate, quality care to the littlest of patients. Marian is a Dignity Health member of the Central Coast, which also includes Arroyo Grande Community Hospital in Arroyo Grande, CA and French Hospital Medical Center in San Luis Obispo, CA, St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, CA and St. John’s Pleasant Valley in Camarillo, CA. Dignity Health of the Central Coast is an integrated network of top quality hospitals, physicians from the most prestigious medical schools, and comprehensive outpatient services including primary care offices, premier ambulatory surgery centers, technologically-advanced laboratories and imaging centers and a full service home health agency; all recognized for quality, safety and service. Each hospital is supported by an active philanthropic Foundation to help meet the growing health care needs of our communities.  

Publish date: 

Wednesday, June 21, 2017