Health care heroes: A bright reminder of nature

Advocate Illinois Masonic has long prided itself for its environmental approach to healthcare, but one nurse spearheaded the charge to put a bright reminder of the importance of conservation and preservation on the unit.

Rosie Espinoza, a nurse clinician on one of the hospital’s oncology units, led an effort to create a large butterfly mural made entirely out of used pharmaceutical medicine caps from across the hospital.

Rosie said she got the idea last fall from a nurse in Toronto who had collected them over the course of several years. Her mother is a lifelong artist and “upcycling” enthusiast, so it seemed like a natural project to take on.

“I had a goal for 2020 to go zero waste – though COVID has made that a bit trickier – but I was looking for some other projects to do to underscore the way we impact our environment,” she said. “I thought this was perfect, but I assumed it would take us all year to get enough caps.”

Instead, once the call went out in December of 2019, they had more than enough by Valentine’s Day – plenty of time to debut the work of art by Earth Day of this year.

Nurses and staff from across the hospital also responded to the call to help put the piece together. Carly Kruedelbach, the interim operations manager for the unit, said many found the simple acts of sorting, collecting or helping to be therapeutic as the hospital ramped up its COVID-19 care. Then, on Earth Day, Bob Marsh from the Facilities team took time out of his busy COVID workload to assist in securing it to the wall of the unit.

“Seeing her and the whole team – and whole hospital – work on this has been pretty amazing to see,” said Carly. “Rosie has been so passionate about this, and she is so inspirational. She truly lives her message of living green and living well, she’s a really incredible role model.”

Rose said she hoped the piece would inspire happiness and awareness to everyone who passed or saw it.

“I hope people who see it not only find joy in the colors and image, but also remember that we are nature,” Rose said. “What we do to the environment, we are doing to ourselves.”