Saint Anthony Medical Center Pediatrics Unit gets artistic touch

Local school teacher lends time and talent to colorful mural project
CROWN POINT A stroll through the Pediatrics Unit at Saint Anthony Medical Center is like a walk in the park these days.

Park- and faith-themed cartoon-like murals, many featuring colorful characters, now adorn the walls of the unit’s seven rooms and hallways.

The project, which was completed in recent months, resulted from efforts of a Patient Satisfaction Committee, along with Dr. Clark Kramer, pediatrician, and input from the young patients and their families.

The artist, Margaret Raduske, is a Hammond resident and teacher at Jefferson Elementary School in Gary, who was asked to create the works and did so in about three weeks.
Raduske previously had painted designs on windows in the Medical Center cafeteria and had done face-painting at holiday parties.

“Tom (Cook), the hospital painter, suggested the person who does the windows in the cafeteria for the murals,” Raduske says. “That trail led to my mom, Mary Raduske, who works in the cafeteria. She said I probably would be glad to do the unit. It came at a perfect time for me, since I’m off 10 weeks in the summer.”

Raduske says the project team told her the theme of each room “and I went from there.”

“The Jesus mural in the playroom (was designed from) the actual picture they gave me.”
Raduske also credits the project team, along with Elena Dejesus, unit manager, and Cook, for providing guidance.

“Lena gave me suggestions as I drew on the walls. It was she who decided on the scene in the main hallway. Tom asked people what they wanted on the walls. That way, they could walk down the hall and say, ‘I thought of that!’ “

He also gave the walls a fresh, base coat of paint before the murals were done.

“As for designing, I just sort of collected a bunch of pictures that focused on the room’s theme, looked at the wall and visualized, then drew,” Raduske says, adding each room took about two days and the hallway a week, to complete.

Dejesus says Dr. Kramer “took us around to look at other hospitals to get a good vision of what to do (to decorate the unit)” and the project blossomed from there.

“We have gotten a lot of positive feedback from patients and their parents. It looks more like a pediatrics unit now,” she adds.

Raduske, who has been at Jefferson for six years and in her profession for 14, says, “I have taught everything from gym to eighth grade. Funny thing is, I have never been an art teacher.

When I was going to college, my instructors told me art would soon be eliminated from the curriculum, so majoring in art would be a waste of time. However, I was able to squeeze in a few art classes here and there.”

Raduske says interest in art can be traced to her childhood.

“My mom saw that ad on TV that said to draw a pirate or duck and she sent away for the kit from that art school. Those were my first art books; in fact, I still have them.”