Public Employee Press: PEP Talk
Local 768 LCATs at Bellevue Hospital
H+H art therapy for essential workers
By DIANE S. WILLIAMS
DC 37 members lead a wellness program for pandemic’s essential workers
Licensed Creative Arts Therapists (LCATs) in DC 37 Locals 299 and 768 are using music, art, and movement to help essential workers at Bellevue and other city hospitals cope with COVID pandemic stress.
Bellevue Hospital was an epicenter when the pandemic killed more than 33,000 New Yorkers in 2020. Freezer trucks that housed the dead lined the street outside the towering glass entrance. No one understood exactly how COVID started or how it spread. There was no vaccine. Essential workers feared bringing the virus home to their loved ones.
“COVID happened. We were working so hard at Bellevue it was as if we were shell-shocked. It was overwhelming,” said Drama Therapist Alan Pottinger. “COVID patients came in with a cough at noon, their conditions would worsen, and they were dead by midnight. It happened repeatedly. We’re not trained to handle so much death.”
“I was out sick with COVID in March 2020,” said musician Noah Shapiro, an LCAT 3. “I returned to work in May 2020. I had my guitar on the elevator. I got off and played it. One of my co-workers said, ‘We really need that.’ So I got the idea to put a group of therapists together at Bellevue.”
The creative arts therapy helps healers heal and fosters a culture of wellness and support. The band includes Music Therapists Shapiro and Pottinger, Andy Chen, Tess Power, Steve Xie, Sophia Woods, and Camila Casaw, Art Therapist Heather Montemarano, and Dance Therapists Robin Mele and Rebecca Lermsider. They are guitarists, singers, drummers, pianists, dancers, and painters.
“LCATs are giving peer-to-peer support, providing what they need to keep up their energy and reduce their stress levels as we process the pandemic and social justice events of the past year,” said Milica Ramirez, the program’s director at Bellevue. The creative therapy program has management’s support.
The band of therapists sing soul and pop, jazz, and rock. They fill Bellevue’s lobby with joyous music. Staff and patients sing along to the Ronettes ‘60s pop hit “Be My Baby,” a frequent request.
Many of the therapists want to pay it forward and help others, including their coworkers, heal from the trauma the pandemic caused. Linda Ruiz, an 18-year Bellevue Hospital veteran and Local 768 delegate said, “We have been through the worst of the pandemic. Our work offers the opportunity for people to use their talents and creativity to help others heal.”
Shapiro agreed. “People thank us for the music we provide, not just patients, but also the hard-working staff.”
