Color It Blue

I flew to St. Louis, Missouri to attend the Medicaid Enterprise Systems Conference August 16-17, 2016.  Xerox Healthcare hosted me and I would be painting in their booth. When I arrived, I walked through the exhibition hall and saw all the usual give-a-way swag: Pens, water bottles, USB sticks, and candy.  I rolled my paint supplies into the Xerox booth and set up my easel next to the item Xerox was giving away. 

It was a coloring book and colored pencils.

As I painted for two days with the Xerox team, I heard so many conferences attendees eagerly thank the team for bring coloring books.  The attendees said they would color on the flight home, in conference sessions, or color just to let go of stress.

The coloring book was such a major part of the conversation that I added it into the painting: “Uniting the Kingdoms.” The upper part of the painting is black and white, waiting to be colored.

As I spoke with attendees, I heard many attendees talking about each state’s Medicaid program as though it was a little kingdom to itself.   So I painted the kingdoms being sewed together by the cables of technology.  I also created a bridge of Legos uniting two kingdoms and honoring a nearby booth that had Legos available for attendees.

On the second day we had a mini gathering of The Walking Gallery, as three Xerox staff members had recently joined the movement.  To the left is Allyson Burroughs telling the patient stories of her father, grandmother and mother.  Then I wear my letter A for "Little Miss A type personality."  Next is Lauretta Sechrest telling the life story of her father who passed away recently.  Finally, to the far right is Tiffani Doyle who tells the story of her sister-in-law and her first born son. 

The second day I painted “Leverage.” 

In this painting, I depicted levers and fulcrums.  Each fulcrum was a piece of the United States flag and it represented the legislation upon which we build our healthcare framework.  A patient, vender, or provider was working each lever.  Each lever propelled into the air a patient, vender, or provider toward population health.  In the center background of the painting was an arch.  Blue sky was in the center and gray sky was swirling all around the arch.  This is the future of healthcare.  It could be gray swirling storm clouds or beautiful blue.

I hope we color it blue. 

HIMSS 2016 hosted by Xerox HealthCare

In the spring of 2009, I was helping students at four different schools in Washington, DC complete class projects for their respective school auctions.  One of the most popular class creations was a Warhol inspired painting.  For this project I would copy pictures of the children onto rice paper using a Xerox copier.  They would then paint self-portraits using bright and whimsical colors.  I could not print the photos with an ink jet printer because the colors would run.  I could not print the photos with a laser printer, as the laser image would not take paint.   I would copy face after face and dry toner was my friend.

In the spring of 2009, husband Fred was hospitalized with stage four cancer.  I still had to finish the class creations while I cared for a very sick husband.  The night I finished the last Warhol project, I cried and cried above so many copied faces.  I had been researching my husband’s condition; I knew there was a great chance he would die soon.  Late into the night I worked on that project, my tears mixed with the gel medium as I adhered each little face.  The colors did not run, as my mind raced and dry toner was my friend.

A few weeks ago Jim Mignano reached out to me, he works with Xerox Healthcare.  He was very impressed with The Walking Gallery and my focus on the patient perspective in healthcare.  He asked if I would be willing to come to Las Vegas for HIMSS 2016 and be their guest.  Would I be willing to paint in the Xerox booth?    

I said yes.

Soon after Tamara StClaire, Chief Innovation Officer at Xerox Healthcare, reached out to me about joining The Walking Gallery.  She is passionate in her belief that we are on the cusp of great change in medicine.  At the intersection of Genomics, HIT and mobile devices a swirl of creation is advancing.  Tamara is determined that technology advance in a way that is patient centric.

So, I titled her jacket painting “Determination.”

Soon Jim and the Xerox Healthcare team were asking if they could host a gathering of The Walking Gallery at HIMSS. On Tuesday March 1, 2016, I painted all day in the booth and created the painting “Behind the Scenes at Xerox Health.”  When the day began the entire team had a planning huddle.  They invited me to explain my work and explain why I would be painting among them throughout the day.  During the huddle, I was informed that all the lanyards we wore were color-coded based on the individual’s product knowledge and expertise.  This was a great system, as I would often need to guide booth guests to the correct person.  I liked the idea so much I used those colors into the painting.  The title of the painting and the visual theme was inspired by a phrase I often heard from passersby, “Hmm, Xerox.  I didn’t know they worked in health.” 

At 1:30 The Walking Gallery gathered and it was exciting to see so many friends in the Xerox booth. So many members were present that we flowed into the booths beside Xerox. (Photos below taken by Xerox Healthcare Photographer)

On Wednesday the 2^nd, I created another HIMSS painting entitled,  “Value Based Care vs. Fee For Service.”  This painting was based in great part on the results of a survey Xerox Health recentlycommissioned.  This painting was representing the adoption rate for doctors and practices for the new value based care payment model.

Later that evening, I would finish my last painting.  This canvas would be painted whilst I took part in a round table discussion about the landscape of care in the US.  In the prior two paintings, I plenty of time to paint and hours of overheard discussions to build on.  The evening painting had to be completed within three hours.  I opened my mind’s eye and looked for a vision.  I saw a flying saucer with the Xerox emblem.  So although that was a very odd thing to paint, I began my brushwork, connecting the ship above to the buildings below.  Then I titled the painting, “Investigating the Idea.”  I finished the painting and handed it to the great folks sitting at the tables.  An employee asked me, “How did you know we call Xerox the mother ship?”  I looked at her and quietly laughed.  I didn’t know, but I guess my brush did.

Then I gathered up my supplies and left Las Vegas.  I left happy and a bit tired.  Much had been accomplished in two days.  The Xerox Healthcare team was incredibly kind and I am very glad they invited me to the table.