Pictured during a recent unveiling event is, from left in the front row, students Rafael Ledesma, Ana Alarcon, Franny Leon Ayvar and Camila Castillo and teachers in the back row Luis Caraballo, Brooke Napoli and Cynthia Mitchell with her son Zander, in one of the Pediatric treatment areas. All the students graduated this year and will be attending Middlesex County College in the fall. *Photo submitted

Press Release July 9, 2015

PERTH AMBOY – Children don’t usually enjoy a trip to their local hospital emergency department.  Feeling sick or being injured coupled with nurses and physicians taking blood for testing, inspecting injuries or sitting still for an X-ray doesn’t help.  Realizing this, Raritan Bay Medical Center’s Perth Amboy Emergency Department recently enlisted the help of Perth Amboy High School art students and teachers to help create a kid-friendly, dedicated pediatric area.

“We wanted to decorate our walls in a way that would be more welcoming to children, to help make our emergency department less intimidating for them, and to provide areas exclusive for our pediatric patients,” says the medical center’s Director of Nursing, Emergency Services and Organizational Effectiveness Vincent J. Ciccarelli, MBA, BSN, RN.  “The students and teachers really did an amazing job using their talents to paint beautiful murals in these dedicated areas.”

More than 15 students and teachers painted underwater-themed wall murals in the emergency department’s pediatric waiting area and treatments rooms in less than a week.  “This was a fun project for our students and myself and my fellow teachers.  Creating art to help children feel more comfortable makes this even better,” says Perth Amboy High School Art Teacher Brooke Napoli.  “We’re going to explore other areas with the hospital, where we can paint decorative murals for patients in the future.”

Raritan Bay Medical Center Perth Amboy Emergency Department’s Pediatric Waiting Area  * Photos submitted.