Salem Hospital Sculpture Honors COVID-19 Victims, Health Care Workers

SALEM, MA — A new sculpture at Salem Hospital is designed to commemorate the patients and their families who suffered during the COVID-19 health crisis and the hospital health care workers who went to heroic lengths to serve them during that extremely difficult time.

The sculpture, located in the courtyard outside the emergency department entrance, consists of three spiral pillars and is designed to be a place of reflection and a reminder of the importance of caring for one another.

"When the world was facing fears, and so much uncertainty about exactly what we were dealing with, this team … rose up with compassion, courage and such a dedication to care for patients," President and Chief Operating Officer Roxanne Ruppel said. "I hope this space, and these sculptures really instill pride in what we are able to do together."

Salem Hospital had more COVID-19 inpatients than any community hospital in the state during the first wave of the pandemic. Several medical units were converted to COVID ICUs to care for the sickest patients, along with the creation of outpatient COVID clinics and testing centers.

"In health care, we're witness to human suffering and traumatic events and we're often alone in that suffering and what we witness, and to gather here today to see such wonderful colleagues allows us to not be alone," said Dr. Adrienne Allen, senior medical director at North Shore Physicians Group.

Salem Hospital was also the site of Mass General Brigham’s first COVID sub-unit expressly for mental health patients and their unique needs.

"We bore witness to this history and have a collective responsibility to remind, less our society forgets, that this actually happened," said Dr. Patrick Gordan, chairman of the Department of Medicine.

A dedication ceremony for the sculpture was held last Thursday with John Akatyszewski, the owner of Ziggy's Donuts in Salem and Peabody and a COVID-19 survivor, donating refreshments as part of the dedication.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)