Healthcare Professionals Memorial Art Project #HCPMA
While we head the cheers and bells for healthcare workers, we must recognize thousands of healthcare professionals / healthcare workers lost their lives during the COVID19 pandemic while trying to aid others in their fight and recovery. Since early into the pandemic we heard the stories of shortages of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), lack of life saving equipment, and shortage of qualified personnel.
However, the government was slow to react and even kept the public in the dark by spreading a false narratives and misinformation on every level; hospital administrators bent the rules and turned a blind eye to the seriousness by placing gag orders on nurses and physician, punishing and terminating healthcare workers over issue related to publicly speaking about PPE shortage and bringing their own PPE to work.
Although, we hear about it less or even denials of any shortage by hospitals or government officials, the PPE shortage was and for some still very much present and now we are seeing more and more healthcare workers suffering from the stress and toll this pandemic and poor leadership has caused on their bodies, minds, and souls!
The public is not any less at fault. We heard the cheers, but still saw people complaining and be defiant about using face masks, gatherings, physically distancing, and deny the science. Now we face a wave of misinformation about vaccines, fueled by ignorance and politics, putting the community and healthcare workers at risk.
As a Nurse, a Veteran, Educator, and Artist I recognize the importance of remembering those that have not only died but fighting for the health of our nations. The lessons we must learn moving forward must include the tireless work and celebrations of the healthcare professionals but can not exclude the delayed and inactions of local and national leaders as they used the healthcare community as dispensable commodities!
As researchers push for answers and publish their work, visuals such as art, sculpture, writing, poetry, and the arts in general have been present as incredible reminders and serve as a conduit to a much needed conversation, emotional connections, healing, and serve as a learning platform.
As an artist I felt compelled to not allow the lives lost and actions taken be forgotten, the actions of the people remembered, and the inactions highlighted so we may never put the lives of so many in such danger. That is why I started fundraising and building the Healthcare Professionals Memorial Art (#HCPMA) project as a way to advocate for the much needed PPE for our healthcare workers and communicate the work, loss, and events up to this point in the pandemic!
Last updated 05 July 2021
Individual donations as of 15 March 2021: $2720.00
Thank you! This project would have not been possible without the generosity of friends, family, and colleagues!
Fundraising efforts will continue for the #HCPMA project for the purposes of exhibitions through “go fund me”. For organizational sponsorships and donations please contact me directly.
A special thanks to my wife for supporting me through this project and
my two little girls that rolled up their sleeves to helped and keep me company during the long hours in our garage.
Stethoscopes
Click on a stethoscope image for larger picture and shared stories and notes.
(the stethoscopes in this project were donated by nurses and are not an endorsement of any stethoscope brand)
If you are a healthcare professional and would like to donate a stethoscope or another healthcare related item
for this ongoing project please contact Ali R. Tayyeb for details.
Click on the stethoscopes below to read the stories of the Nurses that donated them.
The HCPMA project would not have been possible without the generous funding support of the following individuals (in no particular order)
Semira Semino-Asaro
Christina Garrison
Catherine Ferris
Courtney Walters
Janice Elliott
Jess Dillard-Wright
Joan Young Spotswood
Nicole DePace
Rose Sanchez
Lisa Ford
Ho Shin
Michelle Schloot
Ann Mayo
Janice Woods
Camille Jensen
Robin Cogan
Kelly Bianchi
Wanda Montalvo
Tim Higgins
Sarah Llewellyn
Cal State LA BSN Class of 2020
Evelyn R. Calvillo
David Stern
Anna Valdez
Alisa Hambarchyan
Kimberly A. Druist
Guadalupe Pliego Gijon
Layli Caborn
Adriana Perez
Lisa Tze-Polo
Stephen Ferrara
Jonathan Aguilar
Rona Nguyen
Patricia Chin
Lorie Judson
Teri Mills
Lisa Campbell
Emma Spencer
Monica McLemore
Patrick McMurray
Shirin Farrekhosravi
Jane Hopkins
Tayyeb Family
Laura Reynoso
Melodie Daniels
PROJECT UPDATES
Scroll down for the latest updates…
12 July 2020 - We have reached $545.00 on the fundraiser with 15 donors so far. The sketch and design of the memorial art are starting to shape. After several renditions of the design, the final project will be mixed media, made up of seven total panels, with each panel standing 6 - 8 feet tall and 2 feet wide. A center panel depicting a Healthcare Professional .
An initial sketch to assist with the planning, build, and connections to the main center panel.
15 July 2020 - We have reached $645.00 on the fundraiser with 17 donors so far. Several healthcare related manufacturers such as 3M Littmann Stethoscopes have declined to donate to the project. However, The project will be moving forward with the hopes that either the fund raising, donation, or a combination of both will come through. I’ve started the purchase of some of the items I need for this project and preparing some initial material for the build.
Measure twice, cut once… Sometimes twice!
17 July 2020
We’re now at $700.00 with the fundraiser. Experimented with a few new media. pretty excited with how some of the material i’ll be working with can be incorporated into the project. Thanks goodness for online tutorials as they have given me some ideas. My girls have been giving me hand as well, which has made this process a family affair. My wife also came up with an incredible thought about one major aspect of the project which I am definitely incorporating. Completed a few initial prep items today. I think I have a pretty good grasp on the overall look and feel of the project. I have a few purchases to make for this project. Going to try and get to those this weekend.
20 July 2020 - I’m grateful to see the donations still trickling in, now sitting at $845.00. The money is really needed for me to not only complete this but also keep my own cost on the project reasonable and still pay my own bills. Experimenting with the framing of the panels and the structure. A slight modification that will be good for the piece and making it more meaningful will be the dimensions of each panel. Each panels dimensions will now be 3’ X 7’, making the overall length 21 feet. this will double my cost of the panels for me but it will definitely make a difference.
Still have not heard any news for support of the project from any medical sales, manufacturing, or organization. I wasn’t expecting it because I’m not a non-profit organization, but I’m not a for profit either, so I thought that might have played a hand, but I guess they’re looking for the tax right off that they won’t get from donating to me. Still a couple of companies are pending, so we’ll see. For now grateful for the people that have been donating. The work moves forward!
24 July 2020 - An incredible few days since my last update. The donations are now up to $1259.00.
Sharing an incredible story of a project supporter Dr. Anna Valdez
Stethoscope #1
“I am packing up my stethoscope tonight to donate to @artayyeb for the memorial art project he is building to honor health care professionals who have died of COVID-19. It has me sentimental tonight. I was given this stethoscope by my friends when I was a young ED nurse. I was very poor in nsg school and could not afford a good one. They pitched in and bought me a Littman. I remember feeling better about myself when I put it around my neck like my worth increased that day. I have worn this stethoscope for 25 years in EDs, trauma rooms, ambulances, ICUs, and helicopters. It has touched thousands of patients. It never failed me.
My favorite memory though is when someone else wore it. When I was still a nursing dean I had a student sent to my office for being “unsafe and unprofessional”. He was sent home from clinical because he showed up “unprepared” w/o a stethoscope for the second time. His teacher said he was unprofessional and at risk of failing. They told him if it happened again he was done. This young man was in preceptorship with 3 weeks left in nsg school. When he came in my office he was shaking and clearly afraid. I sat down with him and gently asked him why he kept coming to clinical w/o his stethoscope. He began to cry and said someone had stolen his stethoscope and he was sharing with a friend. Now that they were in preceptorship he could only use it when his friend was off. He took some coins out of his pocket and said this is all the $ I have. I cannot buy a new one. Now with tears in my eyes too, I reached in my drawer and handed him my stethoscope. I told him to take good care of it and bring it back to me at graduation. I hugged him and told him it would be okay. A few weeks later that young father graduated. He showed up with my stethoscope in his hand. I traded it with him for a brand new Littman. I can afford one now. We both cried and he went on to become a nurse with a shot at a different life - much like I did.
Nurse educators are quick to judge students. I was thinking tonight - What if we viewed students as people we are privileged to serve and embraced their individual gifts and humanity? What if we respected and valued nsg students without judgment? What if we valued differences? What if we taught empathy and compassion by demonstrating it? This young man was not unprofessional. He was a human being who was suffering. He was doing his best to be his best. As we teach the core values of nursing, let’s strive to embody them. We don’t have to be gatekeepers. We can choose to be bridges instead. I am grateful that this nurse and I shared my stethoscope. I am humbled and honored that he trusted me with his truth that day. I hope he and his family are thriving and safe. I hope he is being protected by his employer right now. I will miss this worn stethoscope. And it is because it holds so many important memories that I chose to donate it. This is the least I can do for our colleagues who have lost their lives to COVID-19.”
Dr. Valdez has been an incredible supporter and feel incredibly privileged to know her and be receiving this incredible gift for the project.
Stethoscope donated by Dr. Anna Valdez Ph.D., RN, CEN, CNE, CFRN, FAEN, FAADN
30 July 2020
Donations are now at $1324.00. Thankful for everyone that has donated so far. I have about 10 people that have said they were sending me their stethoscope and I am grateful for that. As you can see above, the stethoscope Dr. Valdez wrote about just arrived. I am my own worst critic and the responsibility to produce a meaningful piece of art seems like an enormous responsibility and I hope what I am creating meets everyones expectations. I am excited to say I have put somewhere around 30 hours so far into the project and I am using material and techniques I have not really used to produce an art piece. So the best way to describe it is it’s definitely a mixed media piece!
30 August 2020
The fundraiser has remained the same since the last update. As a result of funding, the number of donated stethoscopes the project is getting downscaled to 3 panels, each 3’X7’. Still a substantial art piece. Very excited to say the main figure on the center panel is complete (phase I) and I am starting work on the actual center panel the figure will be mounted to ( I’m referring to that as phase II) and the remaining two panels which will display the donated stethoscopes (phase III). Overall I could not be more grateful for everyone that has contributed and supported this project.
15 September 2020
The work on panels 2 and 3 has started with the completion of phase II. My 11th donated stethoscope arrived today. I have been creating individual sites with an image and stories or noted that have been shared with me. I have also added smaller pictures to this site that can be clicked on for full site. In addition, the names of all the people that have supported this project financially have also been added.
22 September 2020
Thanks to a generous donation by the Cal State LA BSN Class of 2020 the funding for this project now stands at $1624.00.
The project is nearing completion. It’s been just over 3 months that I started this and I predict another 2 weeks on this. Finishing up the 3rd board probably by this weekend. It’s been a long and emotional journey; lots of hours (300+) put into this project. I look forward to sharing it with everyone and honoring our healthcare professionals and those that died caring for others!
02 October 2020
I am days away from completing this project. The last 2 stethoscopes arrived yesterday along with the wood trim I needed for the framing of the three panels. I am still exploring options for the next steps. Several people have asked if the art piece will be making any tours. I think it’s too early to say. But I hope there is an opportunity for as many people to see this as possible as I believe it has a message to share!
03 October 2020
Thanks to more generous donations by nurses the gofundme now stands at $1824.00.
Started the framing process of the three boards today. The frames had to be cut, prepped, and nailed on. the back of the boards also had to be finished before the framing could go on. The center board is complete and now working on board #2. I think I’ll be done with the boards by Sunday.
06 October 2020
After almost 4 months and 350+ hours on this project it is completed. Now to start looking for a hopefully permanent home for this piece and hopefully getting some press coverage as this art project was never meant to be just art for the sake of art, but art in the form of “artivism” and ensuring we communicate our anger for the unnecessary loss of our colleagues lives and bring together our collective voices as healthcare professionals and create a safe environment where we do not compromise the safety of the public, our family, our friends, and ourselves. The governments and hospital administrators inability to protect us is a no longer acceptable and this lesson must never be forgotten.
Thanks to everyone that supported this project. This project would have never happened without your belief in the message in remembrance of the lives lost and the inactions, policies, and lack of leadership that led to so many lives lost.
17 October 2020
I’m going to start with a thank you to everyone that has reached out to me and your incredibly kind words about the project. As many of the donors, contributors, and a few colleagues and neighbors that have seen the project in pictures or in person have suggested I will be looking into a possible tour of the art work. I will say, taking a piece of art on a tour is very much a foreign concept to me and I am grateful for guidance I have already received. This will mean additional fundraising and sponsorship for this work, so more to come on that.
I am excited to say my home base, California State University, Los Angeles, will be covering the piece in an upcoming Cal State LA Connections newsletter. I hope this can be a kickoff point to share the message of this work and bring attention to the need to protect our healthcare community and remember our community of healthcare workers that have died due to COVID19.
11 November 2020
I’ve spent a good portion of the last month trying to strategize around how to get the message out. California State University, Los Angeles had agreed to run a story on the #HCPMA and did send out a photographer. However, not exactly sure when the story will be going out. At the advise of a colleague I am working on several new pieces (much more of a smaller scale) to make this not just the one large piece, but more of an exhibit that speaks to the struggles and factors that impacted the healthcare community since the coronavirus hit the world.
Currently I have 2 pieces that I am finishing up. One of them follows the movement of healthcare workers standing in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movements and the other is a homage to an art piece done by Luis Quiles with the theme of a healthcare worker being cheered but she has scissors that have been stabbed in her back. (a quick WARNING - his art comes with strong political messages but often with nudity and adult content - IG @quiles_artwork & luisquiles.art)
I still have 3 more pieces I am currently planning on working on and have started gathering the material I need.
Grateful for Cal State LA, Jillian Beck (Cal State LA News), & J. Emilio Flores (photographer) for sharing this work
13 December 2020
Extremely grateful for Cal State LA doing a press release that has so far resulted in the publication of a piece in the Los Angeles Daily News. A big thanks to the photojournalist Hans Gutknecht for taking the time and writing this pice and covering the story.
Photo by: Hans Gutknecht
In print release of the Daily News coverage of the art piece in the 03 January, 2021 Newspaper. Needless to say I bought 5 copies.
Super grateful to the the San Fernando Valley Sun news, Diana Martinez, and Alejandro JSM Chavez for covering the #HCPMA project. This is a two part story. Story 1 of 2 was on the cover and published in their 28 January 2021 news paper. I appreciate the opportunity to continue to share the message that we still need to protect our healthcare workers.
Story 2 of 2 - Published by the San Fernando Sun on 03 February 2021
#PPENow
24 April 2021
Very Excited about the opportunity to publish this art piece in the “Art of Nursing” section of the American Journal of Nursing. The May 2021 issue came out yesterday, 23 April, and I am so grateful for the support of everyone who made this project possible and to have this work published by the AJN. Click the link button below to the AJN website to take a look at the publication.
Tayyeb, Ali R. PhD, RN, NPD-BC, PHN #PPENow, AJN, American Journal of Nursing: May 2021 - Volume 121 - Issue 5 - p 46
doi: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000751104.98241.02
#PPENow
05 JULY 2021
Broken Trust
This was one of several pieces I had worked on along with the larger #PPENOW piece. It not only represented the same theme as the #PPENOW but the stethoscope represents the broken trust many healthcare professionals felt between them and their instituions that failed to protect them, the government that failed to act on the urgency of this pandemic, and a large number of the public that denied the science and continued to ignore the public health warnings and recommendations.
Solo
This is a piece I started summer 2020 but just got around to finishing. The Stethoscope was donated by my good friend and mentor Dr. Wanda Montalvo PhD, RN, FAAN.
One of the many stories I heard from my former students and colleagues is how alone they felt in the fight with COVID. The solo stethoscope represents the feelings of isolation, loneliness, and inability to share the experiences with family and loved ones.
Scissors
This is an inspired piece by the work of Luis Quiles.
A controversial artist “focused in satire drawings and social criticism with high sexual charge” Luis Quiles produced a piece, highly circulated globally through social media, depicting a nurse in full PPE walking while clapes in the background cheering her on. The nurse also has a number of scissors in her back, stabbed! A depiction of betrayal by the public, government…
Make it stand out
I’ve been thinking about the #stethoscopes that were donated to the #HCPMA project for sometime. I decided to create a digital piece just with the stethoscopes as a way to share and fundraise for this project. Funds raised from purchase of the NEW stethoscope art (click on image for direct link or go to Redbubble) will go towards awareness to protecting our healthcare workers through the arts. For details on the stethoscopes please Click here…
Organizational Support
THANK YOU
Please contact Ali R. Tayyeb for details
Organizational Support
I am currently looking for organizations, institutions, and individual donors to help support the Healthcare Professionals Memorial Art project.
The funds will support a United States/ International exhibit bringing attention to the thousands of healthcare workers lives lost to COVID-19 and the shortage of personal Protective equipment (PPE) that continues to plague our healthcare workers around the world.
$2500.00
Jonas Philanthropies
A huge thanks to the Jonas Philanthropies / Jonas Nursing and Veterans Healthcare for their generous donation to the #HCPMA Project. With a special thanks to Dr. Stephen Ferrara.
“Nurses are the backbone of the American healthcare system. It is essential that we support nurses and the vital role they play in our hospitals, schools, clinics, nursing homes and on the battlefield.”
Donald Jonas, Co-founder, Jonas Philanthropies
Please contact Ali R. Tayyeb for details
Organizational Support
I am currently looking for organizations, institutions, and individual donors to help support the Healthcare Professionals Memorial Art project.
The funds will support a United States/ International exhibit bringing attention to the thousands of healthcare workers lives lost to COVID-19 and the shortage of personal Protective equipment (PPE) that continues to plague our healthcare workers around the world.
Other organizations and individuals paying tributes to the lives lost in the healthcare community
Lost On The Frontline
US Healthcare Professionals Lost to COVID19 by
Dr. Claire Rezba
Special thank you to Dr. Claire Rezba for her dedication in documenting the US healthcare workers that have died from COVID19 in the absence of a government entity tracking the lives lost. Her story here!