The Battlefords Union Hospital Foundation have unveiled their annual Art of Courage display for 2020.
This year the theme was “Women who Inspire.” Three women from the area were selected to be photographed for the display:
Pat Gotto, a retired Registered Nurse and former Manager and Director of Nursing at the hospital who volunteers with the BUH Foundation;
Constable Matea Steinborn, a member of Royal Canadian Mounted Police F Division who is from North Battleford, now currently stationed at Kelvington;
Senator Jenny Spyglass from Mosquito Grizzly Bear’s Head Lean Man First Nation, who is a former chief and first female Senator to BATC and the FSIN. She has also volunteered at the hospital the last two years.
Both Gotto and Spyglass were in attendance for the unveiling at the hospital. Constable Steinborn was on assignment and could not make it, but she was represented by her parents Kevin and Laura Steinborn.
The images were photographed by Warne and Paula Noyce of Warne Photography, who have been involved in producing the displays from the beginning.
This is the fourth year of their involvement. The wall was started in 2017 as a way to provide inspiration to patients at the hospital, and is devoted to a new theme every year. The first year was devoted to “the Spirit” featuring Aboriginal dancers, the second year featured the North Stars, and last year’s theme was “Dancers” and the power of movement.
Warne Noyce explained that every year they try to come up with “a different theme, something that is really cool, that means a lot to us as a community as well.”
For 2020, “I wanted to just do real simple portraits – three kind of classic portraits of three amazing women who inspire,” said Noyce.
The wall is on the third floor of BUH located near the Dialysis Unit, Chemotherapy Department, Cardiac Stress Testing Room and the Pre-Operative Department. The idea for the wall is to offer hope and encouragement to those patients attending these areas who might be facing fear and anxiety during their time there, through the powerful imagery placed there.
Those chosen for the 2020 portraits were humbled at being asked to participate.
“I feel proud, I feel so grateful especially for my family to be here,” said Spyglass. “It’s a blessing because when people walk in they say, ‘I see your picture up there.’”
“It’s rather overwhelming, really,” said Gotto. “There are so many people who are very deserving of this type of recognition.”
“It’s awesome, fantastic, pretty proud,” was the reaction of Councillor Steinborn to the photos.
This year’s display is sponsored by Discovery Co-op. Discovery Co-op also presented a cheque to Battlefords Union Hospital in the amount of $20,619.45, which is going towards their capital campaign for equipment for the maternity wing. The money was raised through their Sparkle & Shop event late last year.
