Healing kids take steps with mural

Anstine painted a mural in January in the entrance area to the Salmon Creek hospital’s children’s emergency department, after her design was chosen among about 15 submitted by local artists. That painting is meant to put children at ease with soothing images during stressful emergency visits.

After Anstine finished the first mural, hospital officials offered her more work.

“I must have done OK, because they showed me 10 or more other places for potential murals (around the hospital),” Anstine said. “But we decided this would be the next one.”

The retired teacher is paid $500 per mural, and the Salmon Creek Business Group plans to collect another $1,000 for her in August at its annual golf tournament.

Anstine was given complete freedom to choose a motif, she said. She decided a marine theme would fit the necessary downward slope of this mural.

Stair therapy

The stairwell now displaying her newest creation was a drab affair before. And it wasn’t just an emergency exit or a shortcut for staff.

The stairs are used by the rehab center’s therapists.

The center looks after children of all ages with a range of developmental problems, said Joanna Blanchard, an occupational therapist. Patients may show anything from mild speech problems to severely autistic symptoms, she said. Some have had brain injuries and need to learn to walk and talk again.

Walking through the rehab center’s rooms feels like being in an indoor playground — a very nice indoor playground.

There are swings of several shapes and sizes, sandboxes and mats to bounce around on. There’s a treadmill and monkey bars. And there are wooden steps with railings.

Those steps are very flat. They’re for taking the first steps in the initial phase of rehabilitation.

But the main point of the program is to prepare children for real-life situations, including navigating real-life stairs. That’s why the therapists have been taking their patients to the quiet back stairs for training.

And now, the formerly scary concrete well offers colorful motivation.

“I’ll tell them, ‘Go find the penguin,'” said Trina Volk, an occupational therapist who supervises the rehab center.

The penguin is at the bottom of the flight of stairs.

For some kids, just saying “penguin” is a tough exercise. Now they can roam up and down the stairs, exercising muscles, touching the textured wall and naming marine animals.