Faith Rhone always has enjoyed using her hands to create beauty. She painted a mural of flowers on a wall at the Chambersburg hair salon where she works as a stylist. She used scissors and hair color to brighten her clients’ appearance. 

That changed when the 18-year-old collapsed at home from a heart rhythm problem late last year and her brain was deprived of oxygen for a time. She was cared for first at WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital, then transferred to WellSpan York Hospital and then went to WellSpan Surgery and Rehabilitation Hospital. There, she received occupational, physical, speech and recreational therapy, as well as medical management and nursing care as part of the hospital’s Brain Injury Specialty Program. 

Now Faith is working on art again, producing two pieces for the hospital’s recent annual Brain Injury Awareness Art Show.

Faith created a colorful painting that shows a row of pine trees against a rainbow-hued sky.

She also painted a mask supplied by the hospital to patients for an artwork project, called “Unmasking Brain Injury,” which encourages patients to use the mask to show their feelings about their injury and their process through recovery, and give them a voice to educate others on what it’s like to live with a brain injury. Faith left the right side of her mask white, to represent her lost memories, and painted colorful bands on the left side, to represent the rebuilding of strength in that part of her brain. 

“I always have liked to draw and paint,” Faith says. As she recovers from her injury, she says, “It lets me create something new.” 

“Artwork is an outlet for patients to express themselves,” says Laura McCall, a program coordinator at the hospital. “It can be very therapeutic.” 

Faith painted and used scissors as part of her therapy at the hospital, as she worked to regain her skills from before her injury. Her work reflects her progress from the early days, when she started by filling in a coloring page with rows of cats on it. 

Faith holding artwork showing her progression in therapy, starting with (from left) her first coloring sheet, the painting and the mask.

“She’s very artistic,” her father, Troy, says. “This helps her get back to what she likes to do and build her confidence. It is showing her she is able to do things like that again with time.” 

Started about 10 years ago, the art show is designed to raise awareness and understanding of brain injuries. The show has displayed pieces created by current and former patients at the hospital. In addition to patient-decorated masks, other pieces have included colored pencil drawings of birds, watercolors of flowers, intricate geometrical paintings and even a floral arrangement created with different flowers that a patient put together to represent her brain, aneurysm and stroke. 

Hospital team members also offer educational information about brain injuries. In the past, there have been displays of helmets that show how they help protect the brain from injury as well as a yoga display that shows the healing power of movement. 

“Our biggest goal is to increase the awareness of brain injuries,” says Lauren Ruth, one of the organizers of the event, co-lead of Brain Injury Specialty Program at WellSpan Surgery and Rehabilitation Hospital and a certified brain injury specialist.  “These can often be an invisible injury. People may not understand the challenges and we want to help develop compassion and understanding. We also want people to see the wonderful and meaningful ways people with brain injuries can contribute to society, and how they can create beauty.” 

Learn more about our brain injury care program here.