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UA club grows to bring art to patients at TMC

Lindsay Galbut is addicted.

Since founding Muralcles in September, the UA marketing senior has sung, danced and colored with over 100 hospital-bound children in hopes of helping their healing through art and music.

"It's so addicting - you start small and you see how much more you can do," Galbut said. "And that's the part I just can't stop."

Amidst the strains of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" on the violin and the giggles of children making paper-plate dream catchers, Galbut and 15 club members made their debut Saturday at the Tucson Medical Center pediatrics playroom.

Muralcles - a combination of "murals" and "miracles" - is a UA organization that provides friendship and art therapy to young hospital patients. The club, which has grown to over 100 members, visits the pediatric wards at the University Medical Center, and now TMC, at least three times per month.

Galbut said the impact the club has had on its members has been "amazing." Some students have even decided to go to medical school to learn how to work with ill children, she said.

However, the patients have been the true recipients of the club's efforts. Galbut said many of the children are confined to the hospital for weeks at a time and develop relationships with the Muralcles members who visit them.

"They get so excited. Some of them request certain members to come visit them," she said.

Galbut added that patients' families also benefit from the diversion Muralcles provides. Many parents join their children in making crafts, and siblings participate as well. This is a stress-lifter for the family members, who are often worried and confused, she said.

Galbut said of all the children she was working with, two patients stand out in her mind. One young boy's plain white body cast was "turned into a canvas" by club members. Another boy, a 5-year-old leukemia patient who had to wear a mask outdoors at all times, impulsively pulled the mask off while finger painting outside - forgetting for a moment that he was ill, Galbut said.

"That just gave me goose bumps," she said.

The club should begin painting murals - one of its main components - in the hospitals in about two weeks, Galbut said. The waiting rooms at TMC's pediatric intensive care unit and UMC's trauma room are first on the agenda.

However, patient rooms, hallways and other common areas will also be painted by club members. At TMC, there are 44 patient rooms in the pediatric wing alone to decorate - plenty to keep the club alive for years, Galbut said.

"In order to do 44 rooms, several hallways and conference rooms, that's going to take years - and that's wonderful," she said.

This is especially heartening for Galbut, who is graduating in May. She has accepted a position at a Chicago advertising firm upon receiving her degree, but does not plan on leaving Muralcles at UA.

"It's going to be really hard for me to leave, but it's not going to be the end of it," said Galbut, who hopes to expand Muralcles nationwide.

Mathematics senior Maile Hatch, who has been playing the violin since age four, said she is glad for the opportunity to play her violin to help others.

"This is the only time I really play," Hatch said. "It really makes my day to do it."

Gina Brogna, a biochemistry and 3-D studio art sophomore, said she enjoys sharing art with children.

"I love art, and I really love it when little kids are exposed to art," said Brogna, who serves as th¤e club's TMC vice president. "They're really free, and it's fun to watch them."