Background
Suzanne Wind Gaskell
Dedicated to the Staff at Gilead Community Services
2020
Dedicated to the Staff at Gilead Community Services
Whose selfless actions and compassion were exemplified as they worked to protect our most under served and vulnerable from Covid 19.
By mid-April 2020, the pandemic had rapidly spread in the tri-state region. The staff at Gilead Community Services, a non-profit mental health provider in Middlesex County, Connecticut, was stretched thin as 20 percent of its caregivers were in quarantine after exposure to colleagues who had contracted the coronavirus from infected clients.
Joe Crispino, an ACT (Assertive Community Treatment) team member was quick to offer support and hope to individuals living with a mental illness. He was also the first Covid positive case to be admitted to Middlesex Hospital. Within days of his admission, Joe’s condition worsened; twice he went into cardiac arrest and was resuscitated. Miraculously, on April 21, after nearly four weeks on a ventilator Joe was transferred from the hospital to a rehabilitation center were his long recovery continued. As a testament to Joe’s indomitable spirit and the culture at Gilead Community Services, he has returned to work on behalf of others.
Symbols
The underlying geometry in this work forms the “flower of life” an ancient symbol of unity, created by the intersection of six overlapping circles.
The hands (symbolic of community) demark the periphery of the mandala and serve to protect the mind, body and spirit represented within.
The dominant design at its center is a cross section of a brain to represent mental health. The brain’s interior structure suggested a butterfly; it’s symbolic of transformation. Beneath the butterfly, a kneeling human figure represents our inner self.
After having completed the drawing of the brain, I was caring for my father who was dying of cancer. He pointed to each lung and his head to show me where the cancer had spread. I proceeded to illustrate the lungs. George Floyd’s final plea, ”I can’t breathe”, Covid-19 and my father’s death intersected in this symbol for the Breathing Project and Hope.
Outside the mandala, is the invisible world inhabited by the threat of the novel coronavirus, represented in each corner. A pair of Y-shaped, antibodies flanks each virus.
From Middletown, Connecticut the constellation Ursa Minor was present in the predawn sky on Friday, March 13th, the last day before “Shelter in Place” orders went into effect. Through the Covid lens, the inequities in society have come into focus. This piece is intended to celebrate the brave people who give generously of themselves for the benefit of others.
Hope for a better tomorrow, realized through Compassionate Action and
Science aimed at Healing.
