A project at a Sioux Falls hospital is advocating employee health, all while showcasing employee talent through artwork.
In fact, while the elevator walls are covered in buttons and lights, the walls of the stairwells showcase something much different – artwork. These photographs, taken by Avera employees and paired with a quote, are part of an effort to increase overall employee health in the hospital.
"Obviously the more you use the stairs, the more physical activity you’re getting throughout the day, so this is kind of our way of just trying to create a healthier environment and just encourage them to make those small changes that can make overall health benefits in the long run," says Jenny Sherman with Health Services at Avera.
Sherman sat in on one of the first stairwell improvement meetings seven years ago as an intern. Born out of the employee wellness program called Life Care, the idea for the stairwell improvement project came from a study done by the Center for Disease Control.
"The CDC did a study about dressing up stairwells and how it encourages more people to use the stairwells and what not, so we kind of just tapped on that to bring that to Avera McKennan so we wanted to see if we could get more use out of our stairwells and less elevator use by just dressing up the stairwells a little bit, making them more inviting, you know just making them less dreary to take, because they're pretty plain, they're just white walls, carpet, that's it," Sherman says.
The Life Care group then reached out to employees to contribute artwork. The photographs are 36” by 36” and are printed on aluminum – a standard to meet fire codes. Scenes include a butterfly landing on a flower, a serene autumn lakeside view, a winding road amidst changing leaves, and more. Each photo is paired with a meaningful quote such as "Be the change you want to see in the world" by Ghandi, or "The only way of finding the limits of the possible is going beyond them into the impossible." The photographs are hung throughout four different stairwells in the hospital - one photo on each level. While anyone is welcome to use the stairs, hospital employees make up most of the traffic. One such employee is Curt, a concierge in the surgery waiting area. He says the artwork reminds him of the meaning in his job.
"Well I think it's very inspiring. When you're walking down the stairs and you view something like this, I always read it as I'm walking by. You know, it gives you a little inspiration. It helps you know what you're doing here - helping out people," Curt says.
That's the kind of response organizers and artists are looking for. Terrie McLaughlin is an executive assistant at Avera who has 3 different pieces throughout the stairwells. She says she has always been interested in photography, and got her first 35mm after meeting a friend who worked in a camera shop. McLaughlin says she hears good things about her work in the stairwells.
"Everybody's loved it. Of course, a lot of people go "Is that really you that did that?" and I'm like "Yeah, some of them!" I think they think it dresses up the stairway and I encourage people to take the stairs anyway and now when I have family and friends stop by, they want to take the stairs so that they can see if they can find my art," McLaughlin says.
Another art contributor is David Stanley, an assessment crisis counselor at Avera. He got his first 35mm camera as a high school student in 1966. Stanley says prior to this project, the stairwells were nothing to look at.
"They were merely ways of getting from point A to point B. There was nothing really in them at all," Stanley says.
While the photographs certainly make the stairways more attractive, Stanley says he also hopes the images will truly inspire his Avera co-workers.
"I want to include, enable the viewer to picture how man has affected nature. For example, there's a photograph in one of the hallways here that I've entitled "Fall Road" and it was taken at dusk. There was some dust coming up from the gravel road, the lights coming through the trees. And perhaps, just make people think, "what kind of road am I traveling at this point in time, through life?" And that would be what I would be looking for when I do landscape photography," Stanley says.
In addition to the visual appeal, both contributors agree the employee wellness aspect of this project is beneficial. Terrie McLaughlin says hospital employees can set a good example.
"I think if you see people that are trying to be healthy in the hospital, maybe it would rub off on those that come in, I hope," McLaughlin says.
All businesses need to keep employee health in mind and according to Jenny Sherman with Avera LifeCare, hospitals are no exception.
If they can bring the focus on their employees and encourage them to be healthy, it is just better off for the business as a whole. You know, healthy employees are more productive employees. You're seeing less sick time. You know, less understaffing because people are out ill so I think it's becoming more common to see programs in place for employees and that focuses on their wellness," Sherman says.
Sherman says the goal of the stairwell project is to inspire employees and encourage them to be healthy – physically and otherwise. She says there is no way of knowing if more people are taking the stairs as a result of the project, but she does know that those who do are really enjoying the photographs. In the future, she says Avera Life Care wants to expand the project to all staircases and continue to involve more employees in artwork contribution.