Art That Heals

Donors, Local Artists Transform Mary Greeley’s Walls into Windows of Calm

If you walk down the main first-floor hallway at Mary Greeley Medical Center, you’ll notice it right away: color, texture, light. Paintings, photographs, and prints line the walls—some quiet and serene, others bright and bold. What you’re seeing is more than decoration. It’s a carefully tended art program, supported by gifts to the Mary Greeley Foundation, designed to bring a bit of comfort and beauty into a place where days are often long and emotions run high.

“Our world is visual, and people notice more than they realize,” says Shelli Hassebrock, Art Coordinator at Mary Greeley and a retired high school art teacher. “In a hospital, people are sometimes here on their worst day. Having something uplifting to look at really makes a difference.”

Rotating Galleries, Lasting Impressions

The heart of the program is the rotating exhibit along the main first-floor hallway. Shelli invites local and regional artists to show their work for month-long displays. Two artists are featured at a time, and each month one exhibit rotates out and another comes in. All of the pieces in that hallway are available for purchase, with a portion of each sale benefiting the Mary Greeley Foundation and returning directly to support the art program.

For the artists, it’s a chance to share their work with hundreds of people every day. For patients, visitors, and staff, it’s a changing gallery that can turn a hurried walk into a moment of pause.

“Just this morning, while we were hanging a new show, people kept stopping to talk with the artist,” Shelli says. “They asked how she created the work, and they commented on how bright and colorful it was. When the walls are blank between exhibits, people really notice. It feels hollow.”

Beyond the hallway, Shelli also oversees the hospital’s permanent art collection—pieces displayed in lobbies, waiting areas, hallways, and patient rooms on multiple floors. She rotates artwork throughout the medical center, deaccessions pieces that are damaged or faded, and thoughtfully adds new work to keep the collection fresh and relevant.

“We try to offer a wide variety—acrylics, watercolors, pastels, photography, even newer formats like photographs printed on metal,” she explains. “The goal is to have art that’s enjoyable, calming, and interesting to a broad range of people.”

The Power of a Steady Gift

Those new additions are made possible by generous donor support to the Maridee Hegstrom Art Fund, including an annual gift from the Morley Hegstrom family, given in memory of her parents, Dr. George and Dee Hegstrom. George was a longtime McFarland Clinic physician and a pioneer in diabetes care andDee was a passionate advocate for art.

“My mom had amazing taste and a real passion for art,” Morley says of her mom, who was an instrumental member of the Mary Greeley Medical Center Art Committee for years. “She used to look around the hospital and say, ‘What has more empty wall space than a hospital?’”

Dee encouraged the idea of filling those spaces with art and helped nurture the early vision of the program. After her parents passed away, Morley decided to carry that legacy forward through annual gifts—supporting both the art program and a diabetes symposium in her father’s honor.

“They were amazing people and had a big impact on me,” she says. “The hospital can be a pretty scary place for patients and families. Knowing that our gift helps make it a little more welcoming and comforting feels wonderful.”

Shelli says that steady support is essential. While art sales from the rotating exhibit help, they can be unpredictable from month to month.

“Art can be expensive, and we don’t choose artists based on whether we think their work will sell,” Shelli explains. “The primary goal is to offer something uplifting and meaningful. Having consistent donor funding allows us to plan ahead, fill gaps in the collection, and update highly traveled areas like lobbies and major hallways.”

A Quiet, Everyday Kind of Care 

For Shelli, the most rewarding part of the work is hearing from the people who walk these halls every day.

“When staff stop me to say, ‘I saw the new pieces—they’re amazing,’ or when visitors tell us they love that it’s always changing, that’s when I know it matters,” she says. “Even if someone doesn’t consciously think, ‘This art is helping me,’ it can still bring a moment of calm or distraction when they really need it.”

She also sees the program as a way to support artists themselves, especially younger or emerging ones.

“Some of our exhibitors are well-established, and some are in their twenties showing in a hospital for the first time,” Shelli says. “Giving them that opportunity, while also serving our patients and staff, feels like the best of both worlds.”

Morley agrees. For her, the art program is both a tribute and a quietly powerful form of care.

“I’m just so glad my mom helped get it started,” she says. “If it gives someone a bit of peace in a tough moment, that’s exactly what she would have wanted.”

Through thoughtful curation, community partnerships, and the generosity of donors like Morley, the walls of Mary Greeley Medical Center are doing more than holding up the building—they’re delivering a small but meaningful sense of serenity.