When St. Tammany Cancer Center packed up its things in 2021 and moved from its previous home on South Tyler Street and into a brand-new, purpose-built facility near the intersection of Louisiana 21 and Interstate 12, there were innumerable reasons to be excited.
In recognition of St. Tammany Health System’s partnership with Ochsner, and the enhanced capabilities that arrangement brings, the newly relocated cancer center was formally renamed St. Tammany Cancer Center – A Campus of Ochsner Medical Center.
Later, by virtue of Ochsner’s partnership with MD Anderson Cancer Center, those capabilities were enhanced even further, cementing the three-story, $50 million new facility as the premiere destination for cancer care on the Northshore.
All that said, there were things patients loved about the old place, and wild horses couldn’t keep them from insisting those things be preserved.
Which brings us to today’s installment in 70 for 70, our weekly series highlighting artifacts from St. Tammany Health System’s history that help tell its story.
Installment No. 61: Wild horses
Today’s artifact: A framed triptych by Covington artist Gretchen Armbruster titled “Wild Beauties,” featuring a total of nine majestic horses running fast and free, and hanging in the cancer center as a permanent part of St. Tammany Health Foundation’s Healing Arts Initiative.
Why it is significant: In many respects, cancer is a mental game.
It takes quality physical care, of course – which St. Tammany Cancer Center offers in spades – but it also takes a certain amount of grit, determination and inspiration.
For many patients at the old cancer center, those equine paintings by Armbruster – whose mother was claimed by cancer – represented just that.
Hanging in the old cancer center’s infusion suite, they became such favorites of patients that many began calling that part of the facility “the barn.” Some would specifically request to get their treatments there.
“Patients absolutely loved these paintings,” St. Tammany Health System Cancer Services Manager Lindsay Gomez said. “They would talk about how peaceful and relaxed they felt when they would sit in that area. Those paintings provided comfort for our patients, and they always talked about how therapeutic it was to stare at them while receiving treatment.”
As it happens, that is precisely the purpose of the Healing Arts Initiative.
But when it came time to move on to the new, bigger, better cancer center, some began to wonder: Would the barn’s beloved horses be put out to pasture?
At the time, the foundation’s Healing Arts Committee was hard at work finding new art with which to adorn the new center’s walls. The art collection on display there – featuring the works of such artists as James Michalopolous, Bernard Mattox, Marianne Rodriguez, Mary Helen Seago and others – is a gallery-quality one.
But a special space was saved up outside the new third-floor infusion suite – three spaces, in fact – for Armbruster’s stable of steeds. There, they can continue to inspire patients while also serving as a nod to the cancer program’s past.
“Our patients love all the artwork on display here,” Gomez said. “But those horses are particularly special. They mean a lot, and for that reason I suspect they’ll always have pride of place here.”
Do you have a St. Tammany Parish Hospital story or item to share? We’d love to hear about it! Email us at CommDept@stph.org.
Next week – Installment No. 62: Hail to the chiefs
Last week – Installment No. 60: Food for thought