Art from the heart goes to healthcare workers




SO GRATEFUL—The staff at West Hills Hospital thanks the students and teachers of Willow Elementary School in Agoura Hills for sending art pieces and notes of appreciation for their work on the front lines. Courtesy photo

SO GRATEFUL—The staff at West Hills Hospital thanks the students and teachers of Willow Elementary School in Agoura Hills for sending art pieces and notes of appreciation for their work on the front lines. Courtesy photo

Michelle Fagnani is a labor and delivery nurse at West Hills Hospital in West Hills. The Thousand Oaks resident—who is also a nurse with the Las Virgenes Unified School District—only works at West Hills two days a week and does not treat COVID-19 patients, but she said that each day she walks through the hospital doors the experience is daunting.

“It’s scary to walk (through) those doors,” Fagnani told The Acorn. “I was having one of those moments, when I walked into work and saw this outpouring of letters and notes and pictures and artwork.”

Fagnani said the deluge of thanks helped lift her spirits.

“A lot of them I could tell were from LVUSD families. I took pictures. I was so proud to be part of that community as well as the community at the hospital. I was saying to my coworkers at the hospital, ‘These are kids and families I work with!’ It was the push I needed to get in the door that day.”

GRATEFUL—Las Virgenes school nurse Michelle Fagnani with a peace sign gift that helped give her the strength to go to work that day. Courtesy photo

GRATEFUL—Las Virgenes school nurse Michelle Fagnani with a peace sign gift that helped give her the strength to go to work that day. Courtesy photo

As a labor and delivery nurse for 23 years, Fagnani has been at the bedside of expectant mothers, helping them through the process of giving birth. Since the start of the pandemic her job has gotten more difficult.

“A lot of us have this inner struggle between what we committed to as our career and our passion of caring for people versus exposing ourselves and our families to this disease and bringing it home,” she said.

The hospital has established new policies to minimize the risk of exposure for anyone coming in. Instead of bringing pregnant women through the emergency room or the intensive care unit, they’re brought in through a separate entrance to avoid the contamination of the emergency room or ICU, through which they would typically enter.

The expectant moms are also only allowed one visitor, who has to stay in the hospital for the duration of delivery. If they leave the premises, they’ll have to wait outside until the baby is born.

Fagnani’s job has always been stressful, she said, but the pandemic has only increased the strain. The thing that should be the most relieving—her family— now presents a different form of worry, she said.

The mother of three said she changes into scrubs and shoes at the hospital, but even so, she takes her clothes off in the garage and immediately showers upon arriving home.

“We really don’t know, when we go home, are we exposing our families? Most of us aren’t even worried about ourselves, we’re worried about our patients and our families,” Fagnani said. “A lot of times my kids are waiting for me to walk through the door. I have to stop them and say, ‘Wait, I have to take a shower first.’ My 8-year-old will try to hug me, and the dogs will run up to me.”

Laura Kintz, principal of Willow Elementary School, helped organize the notes that were delivered to the hospital. Kintz said the school’s fourth grade teachers take part in a weekly service-learning project to teach kids about how people help their community as a way to help them build empathy.

This project extended across the entire school, from kindergarten to fifth grade.

“We know creativity is so important for kids, and we want people to do something creative every day. It’s good for us,” Kintz said. “Parents were reaching out asking how they can help people in the community, as well as keep their kids busy. It benefits kids, families and teachers in many ways.”

Kintz said there are more thank-yous planned for hospital workers. The school has sent care packages to West Hills Hospital and Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. She and her staff are planning to have kids write and create more thank-you notes for both facilities during Hospital Week—a national, seven-day period to celebrate hospitals and healthcare workers, which will be held May 10 through 16 this year.

For Fagnani and her coworkers, the kids’ efforts will never get old.

“I just want people to know all those words of encouragement really mean something, especially to the people that are trying to find that little extra piece of encouragement to get them there. They’re really providing a lot of encouragement to the people that are showing up to work every day,” Fagnani said.

“People made actual artwork, like paintings. There are banners in the front saying, ‘Heroes work here,’ and I know you’re seeing that from every hospital all over the place, but it was a very low point for me that day. I had to struggle to get there, and just seeing these things was what I needed to get me through the door that day. I just wanted people to know that what they do really matters.”

Follow Ian Bradley on Twitter @Ian_ reports.