Holly Fitzwater, Sam Wehlage and Emily Winn

Jan. 2, 2025
A photo of Sam Wehlage, Holly Fitzwater and Emily Winn.
Sam Wehlage, Holly Fitzwater and Emily Winn

Mural to commemorate parents and newborns

There’s no greater thrill than leaving a hospital and going home with a newborn baby. Holly Fitzwater, a nurse at UCHealth Memorial Hospital North, and her coworkers took an extra step to help new families commemorate the memorable moment.

Fitzwater worked with Sam Wehlage, clinical nurse manager, and Emily Winn, associate nurse manager, to create a spot where families can pause, take a photo, and cherish the moment they took their bundle of joy home.

Patients leaving the mom-baby unit previously got off an elevator to face a blank wall. Fitzwater thought the blank canvas would be an ideal location to celebrate patients.

An idea was born, and it took on a life of its own.

Fitzwater, Wehlage and Winn shared their vision with UCHealth’s marketing team. They worked together on different iterations of the design, collaborating with nurses on their unit to ensure all would be proud of the effort.

In celebration of being born in Colorado, the teams chose a mountainesque landscape with softer colors for the design with the words: “Off we go!’’ on the design.

“Our whole team picked this one,” said Wehlage. “I think that was really cool and special for everybody to feel like they had a little piece of it.”

When the estimate for a wall decal was too much, Wehlage shared another idea. “How fun would it be if we painted it?”

Armed with a mockup of the design, Wehlage went to a paint store and painstakingly color matched all the brand-approved colors in the final design.

“There was a lot of collaboration, not only with the graphic designer, the marketing team, but the facilities team, to be able to do what we needed to do,” said Wehlage.

Facilities prepped the wall for paint and adjusted lighting to allow the trio to use a projector to stencil the design on the wall.

One weekend, Fitzwater, Wehlage and Winn came into work on their day off to complete the project. Over the span of two days, totaling roughly 16 hours, they painted the design and finished the mural. A photo of Sam Wehlage, Holly Fitzwater and Emily Winn in front of the mural they painted.

“I think it’s a great addition to our unit,” said Wehlage. “Just that personal touch and especially to know that the three of us did it. I think that means more to our team than anything. And to see just the amazing things we can do.”

Wehlage credits Fitzwater for bringing this project to completion.

“I don’t think this would have happened without Holly,” said Wehlage. “In the sense of not only was it her idea, but she was persistent in following-up. Holly was just instrumental in seeing this through all the way.”

“It’s such a joy to work on mom-baby and to care for these patients and the little people that they bring into the world,” said Fitzwater. “This is something so sweet and, as you exit, take a picture.”

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About the author

Christine Freer joined UCHealth as a communications specialist in 2022. Prior to joining UCHealth, Freer served as the lead public information officer at the Florida Department of Health in Escambia County. She spent the last 11 years working in public health, program management, and health care marketing and communications. Freer earned a Bachelor of Arts in public health promotion from Purdue University and a Master of Public Health in social marketing from the University of South Florida. She lives in Colorado Springs with her husband, Jim, and their German shepherd, Lincoln.