Tel Hashomer Hospital—Isolation Ward for Bone Marrow Transplants

Act of Beauty: The patients in isolation rooms have absolutely no connection with nature, not even visually from their hospital room windows. Our goal is to paint murals on the outside terrace walls of nature (an ocean, fish, etc).

We were unable to get through all of the red tape necessary to start the project as of yet. So Yael Hartong created whimsical mobiles that she and Zvica (young man in photos) dropped from the floor above to the windows of 4 different ‘isolation’ rooms. The mobiles not only offer the patients color, texture and beautiful objects on which to focus outdoors but they also offer movement. Even without a palpable breeze, the mobiles sway.

I (Fran Sorin) spent time with Aviran (and his father) discussing his profound love of nature. Aviran is a triathlete; besides swimming, biking and running, he plays basketball and soccer. He spends a huge amount of time outside surrounded by trees, shrubs, flowers, sky, sun, breeze, smells, birds, fish, and sounds. It has been painful for him to be totally cut off from that which he loves. Nature is a part of his soul. 

Aviran has maintained a sense of optimism by using Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong organization as inspiration. Even prior to the leukemia, he was inspired by Livestrong (as evidenced by the tattoo on his arm). He also uses tools that deal with nature, reading National Geographic and watching the ‘Planet Earth’ DVD series, to keep his spirits up.

Yael dangled all 4 mobiles from the floor above to Aviran’s window so that he could choose the one he wanted. When he saw each one coming down, a big smile came across his face. He chose the one with animals on it because he loves them. He was specific with Yael about the placement of the mobile so that he could easily see it from his bed.