Unfinished

Yesterday, August 27 was the celebration of Jess Jacobs life in California.  A few members of the Walking Gallery were able to attend.  They represented the 396 members who could not be there.   We all cherish her memory.

The east coast friends of Jess gathered Saturday, August 20, to mourn her passing and celebrate her life.  I came to Whitney’s house in my usual fashion with a hoard of supplies.  I brought tables, chairs, paint, brushes, and glitter.  We were going to make unicorn art.  

I also brought a lot of box tops for education to cut out and prepare to mail to raise funds for my son Isaac’s school.  When someone is very sad it helps to keep very busy.

In Whitney’s back yard the cicadas hummed and I stood presiding over a table of industrious friends of Jess. We painted Unicorns and taped down box tops.  We added glitter and told stories of a life. 

Many people came over to our table to trace and paint unicorns.  One of those people was Ross Martin.  He decided to freehand draw his unicorn in ink.  He said he would come back to finish it.   The afternoon progressed, more paintings were completed, and more stories were told.  Soon it was time to thank Whitney and leave.

I packed up my cacophony of art.  I hugged Ross goodbye.  He said, “I did not get to finish my unicorn.”  I said that was okay.  It would be incorporated in a larger piece.  We don’t always get to finish what we start, but our friends will carry it on. 

I put all the unicorns together into one piece of art.  I mailed that painting to Jess Jacobs’ family. It should get there next week, after the celebration is over, after friends will go home.   It will come in the quiet time.

It will represent our oath to tell her story, to finish what she started.

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. 

The First to Fall

       

On August 10, I was so excited to share that we had reached another milestone in the Walking Gallery.  Five years into our patient rights movement we had reached 400 members!   I even shared the post that lists where everyone lives.  I loved the picture blogger chose for the post.  It was me and Jess assembling the Walking Gallery in its lego form.

A lot of people read that post and reminded me they had moved to a new state or country.  I dutifully changed the post for each request.

Today I added a new country to the post.  I called it Heaven.  I placed Jess Jacob there and cried.

Isaac saw me crying and asked me why.  I told him Jess Jacobs died.  Our friend from DC we played legos with and visited in the hospital.

Jess had been fighting for her life for years. You would have never known that from looking at her.  She was a statuesque beauty who understood health policy.  She was gracious and kind and great at twitter. 

Jess Joined the Walking Gallery in 2012 and her jacket is number 211. "Is she okay?" Her patient story told about her POTS condition.  

When I painted her jacket, I depicted one of the times she fell faint to the pavement. She woke to find strangers looking down upon her.  She would laugh off such medical adventures and do her job and help her friends.  She helped build the lego Walking Gallery and helped prepare for the 2012 gathering in DC.  

In the summer of 2013, I moved to Grantsville and did not get to see Jess as much in person.  She began to have more problems with her care and we created a secret group on facebook to help Jess.  I recruited lovely friends who live in DC and who had never met Jess before but would come over to check on her and make sure she was okay.  Jess reached out to many other close friends and added them to the group so she could have advocates and people to help.  

For the past two years I have had to watch from afar as this wonderful woman grew sicker.  I watched her fight to keep working, fight to be admitted to hospitals, and fight to be believed.  

I watched as so many people fell away from her life as it became clear that she was not getting better.  

I asked her to join us at Cinderblocks 2 in May.  She said she would love to go but she thought she was probably too sick. 

This is the way I would like to remember Jess.  I see her at my dining room table building lego mini figures with Isaac. 

But I will always see another Jess, as I advocate for better healthcare around the world.  I will see her as a patient that the system failed to care for.  I will see her struggle and I will fight for change.

I will never forget she was the first to fall. We will miss her always. 

How to make a tire planter

This is a medical advocacy blog. So some of you may wonder what does tire planters have to do with healthcare?

This summer in Grantsville, MD, colorfully painted tire planters edged the side of Route 40 and delineated the arts and entertainment district in Grantsville.  The students of Grantsville Elementary, their art teacher Kelly Lasher, and other local adult artists created the planter art using rice paper and Dye-Na-Flow dyes. I assembled the art and facilitated the project.  Many a town resident has commented,  "It sure brightens things up!"

And it does.  Sometimes at the end of hard day you just want a little something to brighten things up. 

Guys Tires, Northern Outreach Center and Mountaintop Truck Driving Institute of Garrett College, and local citizens donated the tires. That makes me very happy.  I love to reuse, reduce and recycle.  These tires were destined to end up as trash and they became art instead. 

Chestnut Ridge Nursery of Grantsville donated flowers for the planters.  Local volunteers prepared the tires for display. The Greater Grantsville Business Association helped pay for the flowers and the town of Grantsville approved this volunteer public art project during town council meetings. The planters have been on display since May and the colors are still bright!

We came together as a community and made something beautiful.  Isn't that what happiness and health is all about? 

How to Make a Tire Planter

1. Cut out the scallop pattern with a sawzall

2. Flip tire inside out. (Three strong people are needed for this step.)

3. Scrub tire clean with a degreaser. Rinse and let dry.

4. Prime with gray primer spray paint and let dry.

5. Paint with high quality exterior latex inside and out.  Use bright, light colors, as the planter will be very hot if painted in a darker shade.   Let dry.

6. Apply second coat exterior latex. Let dry.

7. Create artwork on rice paper by drawing an image with an ink pen or fabric marker and then paint using Dye-Na-Flow dyes.  After the art is dry, cut out the art image.  

8. Decoupage the art onto the tire using Golden Gel Medium Soft Gloss. Let dry.

9. Spray seal tire with acrylic gloss sealant. Let dry.

10. Staple chicken wire fencing to inside hole on tire.

11. Place planter in yard and add mulch.

12. Add a bag of potting soil.

13. Flowering plants are added.

14. Mulch around plants and water.

15. Display until fall and place in storage before hard freeze. 

The Walking Gallery Year 6: 2016- May 31, 2017

This is the sixth year of the Walking Gallery of Healthcare.  We now number 428 members walking around the world with patient story paintings on our backs.  We are attending medical conferences where often there isn’t a patient speaker on the dais or in the audience. We are providing a patient voice, and by doing so, are changing the conversation.

An artist or artists interviews medical professionals and lay individuals to form a patient centric narrative. The artist then creates representational imagery and paint that picture story upon the business jacket of the provider of the narrative account. The provider of the patient story aka “Walker” wears the jacket to medical conferences and events in order to disseminate the patient story to a large group of policy minded attendees and to represent the individual patient voice in venues where they are underrepresented. Further, both artist and walker will support the spread of the story and image via social media.

As of January 2017, 428 unique Walkers have joined the Gallery wearing 472 jackets.  The Gallery has representatives on six continents, but the majority of Walkers reside in the US. One artist creates the majority of the art, but new artists are frequently joining the movement.  The Gallery is promoted heavily on twitter, facebook and personal blogs.   Its widening appeal within the health conference community is creating a new space for patients at such events.

The names of the Artists of The Walking Gallery followed by the quantity of jackets they have painted:  

1. Regina Holliday, 408 jackets

2. Isaac Holliday, 1 jacket

3. Becca Price, 1 jacket

4. Miriam Cutelis, 1 jacket

5. Ess Lipczenko, 1 jacket

6. Ben Merrion, 1 jacket

7. Courtney Mazza, 8 jackets

8. Michele Banks, 1 jacket

9. Megan Mitchell,1 jacket

10. Robert J. Filley, 3 jackets

11. Anita Samarth, 1 jacket

12. Mary Welch Higgins, 2 jackets

13. Richard Sachs, 2 jackets

14. Jonah Daniel,  1 jacket

15. Fred Trotter, 1 jacket

16. Leela, 1 jacket
17. Gayle Schrier Smith, 1 jacket
18. Moira Simms, 1 jacket
19. Joan Holliday, 1 jacket

20. Adalyn, 1 jacket
21. Chris Chan, 1 jacket
22. Amy O'Hanlon, 1 jacket
23. Vera Rulon, 1 jacket

24. Jessica Nicula, 2 jackets

25. Nikai, 1 jacket
26. Deonm, 1 jacket

27. Daquane, 1 jacket

28. Olivia Dias, 1 jacket

29. Donnell Bonaparte, 1 jacket

30. Hazel F., 1 jacket

31. Rachel Fields, 1 jacket

32. Zoe Carr, 1 jacket

33. Thomas Richardson, 1 jacket

34. Tamela Mack, 1 jacket

35. Julia Anderson, 1 jacket
36. DJ Hamilton, 1 jacket
37. Jenn Toby, 1 jacket
38. Camala Walling, 1 jacket
39. Jordan Lanham, 1 jacket
40. Josh Miller, 1 jacket
41.  Te'j Matthews, 1 jacket
42.  Tony Zieger, 1 jacket
43.   Shannon Shine, 2 jackets
44.   Melody Smith Jones. 3 jacket
45.  Kay Seurat, 1 jacket
46.  Danny McGinnest Jr., 5 jackets

For more information about joining the movement or to see all 400 plus jackets, please scroll to the bottom of this post.

The Walking Gallery members who had jackets painted in Year Six:

472."Lifeline" a jacket for Vincent Keunen

471. "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Death" a jacket for Robb Fulks

470. "Want to Be" A jacket for Brian Be painted by Danny McGinnist Jr.

469.  "Connecting the Dots" a jacket for Max Stroud painted by Melody Smith Jones

468. "Refrigerator Art" a jacket for Catherine Berg

467.  "Let's Make Healthcare Awesome!" a jacket for Yael Harris

466.  "Miles to go before I sleep." a jacket for Neil Versel

465.  "Saving Lives" a jacket for Jimmy Weeks

464. "The candles that never go out" a jacket for Alex Fair

463. "Abat-voix" a jacket for Linda Stotsky

462. "Teaching a better way." a jacket for Jared Kutzin

461. "11th Hour" a jacket for Esther Fischer

460. "Milkweed" a jacket for Cynthia Dianne Heath

459. "Balanced" a jacket for Judith Zerbe

458. "Hope Grows" a jacket for Ilhee Bae

457. "My Granny" a jacket for Jesika Gavilanes

456."If the Shoe Fits" a jacket for Corey Spears

455. "Teach us in the way that we should go" a jacket for John O'Donnell

454. "I promise to do my best" a jacket for Hassan Tetteh 

453. "The Fire That Drives Me Forward" a jacket for Bill Esslinger

452. "I hug my patients" a jacket for Lissanthea Taylor

451. "Pay It Forward" a jacket for Ben Merrion

450. "Fearless" a jacket for Mandi Bishop Meyers

449. "Diabetes" a jacket for Riva Greenberg

448. "Chapter Three" a jacket for Sally Okun

447. "To Walk Before you Run" a jacket for Sarah Cawley

446. "Making a Difference" a jacket for Liz Johnson

445. "Med" a jacket for Chric McCamic painted by Danny Mcginnest Jr. 

444. "It's Like Blessings Keep Falling" a jacket for Aja La'Starr Owens painted by Danny McGinnest Jr.

443. "Eye Don't Know Why" a jacket for Adrienne Robinson Drapper painted by Danny McGinnest Jr.

442.  "Use your Words" a jacket for Andre Carbonell painted by Danny McGinnest Jr.

441. "#UnicornJess" a jacket for Tiffany Peterson

440. "Springing the Trap" a jacket for Jeri Burtchell

439. "Better Things Ahead" a jacket for Allyson Burroughs

438."8o8" a jacket for Lauretta Sechrest

437. "The Merry-go-round" a jacket for Tiffani Doyle

436. "Be the Trigger" a jacket for Bryanna Gallaway

435. "Burning Down the House" a jacket for Leslie Hayes

434."Growth" a jacket for Corinna West 

433. "The Anointed Ones" a jacket for Benjamin Berlin

432. "Boston Heart Mom"  a jacket for Tami Rich

431. "At the End of my Rope" a jacket for Abby Bott

If you are interested in joining the Walking Gallery here is the info:

http://reginaholliday.blogspot.com/2016/03/how-do-you-join-walking-gallery.html

If you would like to help fund the movement: https://www.gofundme.com/h2dsdwe4 


Here is a short film about the movement: http://vimeo.com/80009527

Read: http://reginaholliday.blogspot.com/2011/04/walking-gallery.html 

to understand the origin of the idea.

http://reginaholliday.blogspot.com/2011/06/walkers-oath.html 

to understand the sacred nature of this path

To view the jackets in year one 1-162

http://reginaholliday.blogspot.com/2011/06/welcome-to-walking-gallery.html

To view the jackets of year two 163-251

 http://reginaholliday.blogspot.com/2012/06/walking-gallery-walks-on-year-two.html

To view jackets of year three 252-328

http://reginaholliday.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-walking-gallery-year-three.html

To view jackets year four 329-393

http://reginaholliday.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-walking-gallery-year-iv.html

To view jackets year five 394-430

http://reginaholliday.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-walking-gallery-year-5.html