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Suzanne Travis, RN, (center) who works at UCLA Medical Center, and her daughter, Madeleine, (left) along with Madeleine’s friend Analia Rey, paint murals to comfort children who are nervous about being at the hospital. Marlene Greenberg, a former oncology RN, (not pictured) is also part of the team.

Those who enter the pediatrics phlebotomy lab room at UCLA Medical Center won’t find themselves surrounded by sterile white walls, but by killer whales, sea turtles, dolphins, seahorses, and a variety of fish.

On the four walls of the room, animals swim through soft, blue ocean waves that ripple against the backdrop of a sunset. The scene is part of a mural that Suzanne Travis, RN, who works in the home health department at UCLA Medical Center, and her friend Marlene Greenberg, a former oncology RN, helped paint to comfort children who were nervous about being at the hospital.

Travis and Greenberg belong to a group called the Mural Girls, which Travis started last year. Although the Mural Girls have painted only one room so far, they would like to paint more — and help give patients a more pleasurable hospital experience.

A mural “takes on a life of its own,” Travis said. “It’s so much more embracing than individual pictures.”

Through a child’s eyes

Travis and Greenberg make up only half of the Mural Girls. The other half is much younger and has no nursing experience, but plays just as big of a role: Travis’ 8-year-old daughter, Madeleine, a third-grader at Mar Vista Elementary School in Los Angeles, and Madeleine’s 9-year-old friend, Analia Rey, a third-grader at Wildwood School in Los Angeles. Madeleine, whom Travis describes as an amazing artist and writer, designed the glittery logo on the T-shirts and hats that the Mural Girls wear when they paint.

Madeleine and Analia painted one wall of the ocean mural on their own. The wall, called the “funny wall,” has mermaids on it: one that Analia painted, which has indigo hair and voluptuous red lips; and another that Madeleine painted, which is blonde and has French tip nails. Travis says the mermaids convey humor, and that humor helps patients heal, even when it’s conveyed through art.

She also asked for her daughter’s input when trying to decide what mural to paint. Travis chose the ocean when Madeleine said she’d want to see an ocean mural if she were in a setting where she was nervous or scared.

The inspiration to paint a mural came to Travis when she would drop off blood samples at the lab and see children screaming and crying in what was then a sterile white room. She and Greenberg, who are both moms and call themselves the “Mural Moms,” had painted Madeleine’s room with a jungle mural a few months before Madeleine was born.

“It’s a brand-new experience once a whole wall is painted,” Travis said.

The elephants and giraffes in Madeleine’s room still roam her walls today.

The Mural Girls began painting the ocean mural in September, after they received approval in July. The room, which is the size of a child’s bedroom, took at least a couple of months to paint. Although the Mural Girls usually painted during off hours, they also painted in the presence of patients a few times, which Travis said was a lot of fun.

Travis had seen murals on park walls, school buildings, and even pet store buildings, but never in a hospital setting. In fact, she says, she has never even seen color in an adult hospital setting. The only color she had seen in children’s hospital settings was from toys, like Legos and stuffed animals, and individual pictures.