Patients, staff, and visitors at The Children’s Hospital at Saint Peter’s University Hospital will soon be greeted by the cheerful faces of Snoopy and the Peanuts gang. On Oct. 2, pediatric patients and staff participated in a worldwide, hands-on event to paint a new mural celebrating the beloved comic strip’s 75th Anniversary.
The mural is a permanent gift to the hospital, stemming from a joint effort between Peanuts Worldwide, Saint Peter’s, and the Foundation for Hospital Art (FHA). The initiative is part of the multi-year “Take Care With Peanuts” Hospital Mural Program.
Art, joy and recovery
With enthusiasm, pediatric patients and staff collaborated on the paint-by-numbers-style, six-panel mural, which features a brightly colored image of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Woodstock, and other characters happily dancing.
Hospital staff noted that the artistic project is a key component of the hospital’s Child Life Program, which uses creative expression to support young patients.
“Snoopy represents the best of all of us—imagination, confidence, resilience, and of course, enormous, good humor,” Kristal Neal, CCLS, child life coordinator at Saint Peter’s said. “These types of artistic projects offer numerous benefits to a patient’s well-being including the reduction of stress and anxiety often associated with being in a hospital setting and away from one’s home.”
According to the National Institutes of Health, creative expression can play a direct role in patient recovery and personal empowerment.
A global message of caring
The mural at Saint Peter’s is one of hundreds being placed in hospitals across all seven continents as part of the “Take Care With Peanuts” initiative, which launched in 2020. The campaign’s themes, drawn from Charles Schulz’s original strips, encourage everyone to “Take Care of Yourself,” “Take Care of Each Other,” and “Take Care of the Earth.”
Melissa Menta, senior vice president, Global Brand and Communications for Peanuts Worldwide, expressed the brand’s satisfaction with the collaboration. “We are thrilled and moved to see Charles Schulz’s iconic characters share their irrepressible joy with the patients… At a time when we all need hope and humor, we believe he would be thrilled to know that his work is bringing both to adults and children across the globe.”
Scott Feight, executive director for the Foundation for Hospital Art, echoed that sentiment, noting that the nonprofit is dedicated to making hospital visits a “friendlier, more hope-filled experience for patients through the power of art—and who can do that more effectively than Peanuts?”
The Child Life Program at Saint Peter’s also utilizes music therapy and visits from trained therapy dogs, illustrating the hospital’s commitment to holistic patient well-being alongside medical treatment.
The mural commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Peanuts comic strip, which debuted on October 2, 1950, and has since become a global phenomenon representing the simplicity and beauty of the human experience.
