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Face of the Frontline: A tribute to healthcare workers

ICU nurse creates display for ArtPrize honoring healthcare workers fighting on the frontlines against COVID-19

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Miranda Kurncz Garcia is a wife, mother and ICU nurse. For ArtPrize, she created a piece entitled 'Face of the Frontline,' a tribute to healthcare workers that continue to battle COVID-19 during the ongoing pandemic.

The display is made up of medicine caps from actual patients at Memorial Healthcare Center in Owasso, most of them from COVID patients.

There are more than 1,000 caps that are each from a different medication.

Kurncz Garcia says she was inspired to create this display because of the beautiful colors and seeing what her co-workers do every day.

"The picture's of a tired, exhausted healthcare worker. Some people think that it's me as a nurse, but in reality it could be any of us. We are respiratory therapists, nurses, techs, doctors, physical therapists, lab techs, anybody that goes into that room and puts their life on the line. It can be any of us," Kurncz Garcia said.

Kurncz Garcia says she's always enjoyed art and has dabbled in painting and photography but this is her first entry into ArtPrize.

She first shared the display on Facebook and was encouraged by her coworkers to submit it in the competition.

Kurncz Garcia encourages everyone to wear a mask, reminding people that healthcare coworkers are doing their best. 

"In the last year and a half, I've pretty much been an ICU and COVID nurse. We kind of have peaks and valleys. It will spike, and then it will get a little better, and then it will spike. We're kind of in one of those spikes right now, unfortunately."

It took about a year and a half to collect all of the medicine caps and about one week to complete the display.

Kurncz Garcia says working on this piece gave her a sense of relief and release and it was an honor to work on.

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