St. Luke's Dedicates Wall of Heroes
Posted on Apr 23, 2015
By St. Luke's, Duluth, MN
St. Luke’s dedicated a Wall of Heroes memorial honoring organ, tissue
and eye donors at a ceremony on April 23. This is the first Wall of Heroes
memorial in northern Minnesota. Attending the ceremony were families and
loved ones of donors, community organizations and medical staff. St. Luke’s
President and CEO John Strange said, “We have been privileged to
work with families throughout the donation process and it is an honor
to be here with donors’ families today.”
The Wall of Heroes memorial was handcrafted by two St. Luke’s Intensive
Care Unit nurses, Pete Boyechko and Jeremy Nelson, who have worked closely
with patients and their loved ones through the donation process. Together,
they have created a hand-carved tree with unique stained glass leaves
representing donors’ generous gifts of life and sight. The tree
symbolizes the tree of life and the leaves honor donors who gave the gift
of life and sight.
St. Luke’s Intensive Care Unit Nurse and Stained Glass Artist Pete
Boyechko explained how working in the ICU has strengthened his view on
donation. “Our donors have given the priceless gift of life and
sight to complete strangers. It is powerful to be part of something so
special.” The memorial will be permanently displayed in the 2
nd floor rotunda of St. Luke’s Hospital.
BELOW: St. Luke's ICU nurses Jeremy Nelson, Pete Boyechko and David
Johnson stand next to the Wall of Heroes memorial they created.
BELOW: St. Luke's Wall of Heroes was handcrafted by three of our ICU nurses
BELOW: St. Luke's President and CEO John Strange speaking at the dedication ceremony
BELOW: Beth Sandstrom, mother of donor; Barb Boettcher, ICU Nursing Supervisor;
John Strange, St. Luke's President; Katelyn Wilson, Hospital Liaison
for LifeSource; Susan Gunderson, LifeSource CEO; Pete Boyechko, St. Luke's
ICU Nurse; David Johnson, St. Luke's ICU Nurse
BELOW: Jeremy Nelson, St. Luke's ICU Nurse; Pete Boyechko, St. Luke's
ICU Nurse; David Johnson, St. Luke's ICU Nurse; Barb Boettcher, St.
Luke's ICU Nursing Supervisor