Foothills Medical Centre Patient Care Unit 57
Art à la Carte began as one woman's effort to help a close friend face her fear of dying while embracing the meaning of her life. By hanging art along her friend's hospital room walls, the sterile surroundings were transformed into a comforting home environment.

Foothills Medical Centre / Patient Care Unit 57

Ann carefully positions a canvas that a patient has chosen.

Patient Care Unit 57 at the Foothills Hospital was home to Patti Hronek for most of her final year of life. It was her room that Debbie first decorated in an effort to bring some of the Stettler, Alberta landscape to Patti’s bedside. The large, colorful pictures and the reactions they evoked from Patti, her visitors and caregivers, provided the inspiration for the creation of Art à la Carte. Unit 57 remains the prototype from which the entire program has grown.

Over the past 15 years a collection of 600 posters, prints and photographs has been assembled. The artworks have been carefully selected to reflect the visual preferences of the hospital patients, with a wide range of styles and subjects – wildlife, mountains, landscapes, humor, children, pets, water and fine art. Each week two volunteers load samples from the collection onto a custom built cart which is then wheeled to every room on the Unit. The patients or their visitors are encouraged to choose whatever piece appeals to them. Their selection is then hung within easy view.