Through their unique encounters with medical care for loved ones, four Dominican alumnae shared the healing power of art. August 26, 2015, the day after her daughter Annie was born, Dominican alumna Jamie Richard Tubre’s (’91) daughter was diagnosed with a Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), a congenital heart defect. Three-weeks later, her two-year-old son John Robert was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). On December 1, 2015 Annie underwent heart surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Susan Sciortino Aucoin (’96), a staff member at Collins Pediatrics, met Jamie when she brought her children to Collins Pediatrics. Inspired by her son Henry who had heart surgery as an infant, Susan founded Henry’s Hearts. The organization provides assistance to children in need of heart surgery. In her search for an artist to enhance the waiting room at Collins Pediatrics, Susan contacted Dominican’s Alumnae Office for names of alumnae artists and connected with Karen Kloesel Katz (’82) who produced a beautiful wall mural for the pediatric office.

The mural inspired Jamie to inquire if the waiting room walls of the Hematology/Oncology Triage Unit at Children’s Hospital New Orleans could be enhanced with artwork where her son receives treatment. Given the approval to proceed, Jamie reached out to Karen. Dominican alumna Lynn Skretny Winfield, RN (’87), Nursing Director of the hospital’s Inpatient and Outpatient Hematology/Oncology Units, helped facilitate the installation of Karen’s artwork.

Karen Kloesel Katz, Jamie Richard Tubre, and Lynn Skretny Winfield gather next to Katz’ artwork hanging on the waiting room walls of the Hematology/Oncology Triage Unit at Children’s Hospital New Orleans.

More pieces of Katz’ artwork in the waiting room of the Hematology/Oncology Triage Unit at Children’s Hospital New Orleans

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