Business & Tech

Patient Paints Gift to Thank Nurses

After being in Doylestown Hospital for nearly a month, Peter Crescitelli wanted to repay the kindness he said his caregivers showed him.

The nurses on 3West at Doylestown Hospital will remember Peter Crescitelli not only for his gentle nature, but for the painting he created while staying in the hospital for nearly a month earlier this summer.

Recently, Crescitelli returned to the third floor to help hang that painting outside of Room 326 —“ a room with a view,” as he called it.

The self-taught artist from Chalfont made a gift of the painting as a way of acknowledging the high caliber of care he received while at Doylestown.

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Crescitelli used watercolors and acrylics to depict the view from his room, which overlooked the pond and Children’s Village child care center on the hospital’s campus. During his stay, he painted two versions of the landscape and asked hospital associates to vote on their favorite to be given to the nursing staff.

“Painting is such a relief for me -- it relieves stress,” said Crescitelli, who has been a patient at the hospital several times over the years. “No matter which floor I’ve been on here everybody has been so kind and generous to me and so professional. It really means a lot.”

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His gratitude was not lost on his caregivers, who gathered to watch him hang the painting in the hallway outside the room. One of his main nurses, a tearful Michelle Picard, RN, said, “I watched him paint it. It’s incredible. It’s good to see him today.”

Loretta Bennie, Clinical Manager of 3 Acute Care, hopes the painting will help future patients “take their mind off, maybe for a few moments, why they’re here, and make them feel special.”

The gift was a testament to the dedication of the nursing staff. “It’s a visual reminder of the care they give to all of their patients,” added Bennie. 

Underneath the painting, a bronze plaque will hang inscribed with Crescitelli’s sentiments not just about his nurses, but everyone throughout the spectrum of care: “To all who provided inspiration, nutrients, cleanliness, nursing and respiratory care, doctoring and spirituality to the patients of this ward…Thank you and well done!”


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