$1M anonymous donation funds UPMC Western Psych unit renovation

The Adult Trauma Recovery Unit of UPMC’s Western Psychiatric Hospital has been renovated with murals and supplies after receiving $1 million from an anonymous donor.

Now called the Zoe Atrium, the unit on the 13th floor features new welcoming spaces, books, magazines and board games, new flooring and murals in each patient room.

“Zoe” means “life” in Greek, and the name was requested by the anonymous donor, according to Dr. James Tew, vice president for medical affairs at the hospital.

“The stigma of coming into an institutional setting like this is usually pretty high; it’s a lot for people to overcome,” he said. “So, anything that we can do to soften the experience — kind of normalize it, make people feel more comfortable — it’s critical.”

Western Psychiatric Hospital opened in 1942, and the Atrium unit was originally built in the late 1980s. It is 7,100 square feet, and it has 10 patient rooms with a total of 14 beds.

Patients stay in the Atrium unit for an average of eight to 10 days, and more than 570 patients are admitted annually over the age of 18 who are struggling with depression, anxiety and trauma.

Tew said the about two-thirds of the patients on the unit are women.

“Most people that are admitted to this unit are survivors of some kind of … trauma,” he said, which plays a role in why they’re struggling.

According to Tew, the newly renovated Zoe Atrium unit can be considered a “soft landing” for patients. The 16 psychiatrists on the unit are all faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, he said. Tew, an attending psychiatrist, is also an associate professor of psychiatry at Pitt.

“For someone who’s never been in a psychiatric hospital before … it can be pretty overwhelming,” he said. “Usually, the first couple days people are just kind of trying to get their head around what happened to me — what am I doing here?”

Coming into a warm, homey space is important, Tew said, and the 13th floor will be done in early August.

“We’re still caring for the patients that would otherwise be here; we just have them on another unit in the hospital,” he said. “It’ll fill the day it opens.”

The hospital serves about 5,000 people per year and has a census of 180 patients per day, according to Tew. The Zoe Atrium is one of 10 different patient units.

The hospital’s emergency unit sees about 10,000 patients annually — and about a third are recommended for hospitalization. The rest are referred to community services.

The impact of art

As a local artist, Maria DeSimone Prascak was asked to create the murals that adorn the Zoe Atrium.

Prascak, 61, of the South Side Slopes, started her business called Maria’s Ideas when she was just 19.

“Obviously everybody draws and colors (as a kid), and I never stopped,” she said.

Though she’s worked with various art mediums, Prascak started making murals in 1993 and has been painting them full time since — including at various iconic locations around the city like the Pittsburgh Zoo.

“This is definitely the most meaningful job,” she said of her flowery and Pittsburgh-inspired murals at Western Psych. “I really wanted to make sure I did what I could to just bring the colors together.”

The anonymous donor has been a client of hers for about 25 years, and she’s done a lot of work in their home and business. When approached to complete the project at the hospital, she said she didn’t hesitate.

“It just was very special,” Prascak said. “I’ve known people that have come through this place and how much it’s helped them, and I know myself just how art and music are very healing, very comforting.”

Her work in each patient room is based on the photos chosen by the decorators that are hanging within them — and the inspirational quotes were all provided by the staff members.

Prascak said she worked on the large Pittsburgh skyline mural in front of the elevators for a few weeks in February, and she spent about nine hours for 14 days on the unit itself painting the rooms. The project was just completed around 10 days ago.

“It just transformed the space,” she said. “It just gives you something to look at.”

Ideally, Prascak said she hopes that the artwork helps patients and staff members forget about their troubles, even if it’s just for a little bit.

“Art has proven — it can literally calm the stress levels, the cortisol levels, can make you feel not as lonely,” she said.

A unique gift

A gift of such magnitude is rare in behavioral health, according to Tew.

It was clear that the anonymous donor wanted to make sure the resources would go directly toward benefitting patients, Tew said.

“We’re not really accustomed to getting big gifts from donors,” he said. “It takes a bit of courage, and it takes a little bit of a pioneer to come out and say, ‘I want to give this to behavioral health.’”