Showing our creative side

By: Lakshmi N Kurnutala M.D., M.Sc.

Beginning this month, we are introducing a new section in our departmental newsletter, “The Pulse”, as part of the our wellness program. We encourage anesthesia faculty, CRNAs, residents, anesthesia technicians, and administrative staff to submit their artwork (paintings with descriptions), music interests (with narrative and photos), photography (with comments), poetry, or small narratives (less than one page).

We know that we have an excellent team to provide the best possible anesthesia care for patients in the state of Mississippi through UMMC. Anesthesia is our profession, but we want to share your passion for bringing a little joy and improving our wellness.

We are a great team as professionals, but our passion (art, music, dance, poetry, photography, etc.) sometimes needs to be more restrained/stopped because of our busy schedules. We want to show the world what we love other than providing the best patient care. As human beings, we don't need to give up one for another; balancing our professional and personal life is very important to improve our wellness.

Please continue to send your submissions to Dr. Sara Robertson or me. We look forward to getting many submissions from each of you!

Chawla Mason-Bolden, M.D.

In addition to her family of course, Dr. Mason's passions comprise medicine and music! If she had not pursued a career as an obstetrical anesthesiologist, she would have aspired to be a professional musician. A classically trained pianist and violinist who enjoys a breadth of musical genres, Dr. Mason would have reveled at the opportunity to play at concert halls or even be a keyboardist for Beyonce's all-girl band.
Provided here is a link to her performance of a piano-violin duet taken from an excerpt of the holiday favorite, "For Unto Us a Child is Born" from Handel's Messiah.

https://youtu.be/tPa2zQG4KlU

Sonja Raucher, M.D.

What can one do with an exorbitant number of empty Monster cans but turn them into a Echinacea mosaic? The work really did not require any specific skills - just some patience. Each aluminum shard was cut from cans according to their color and attached to a plywood using small nails. It took several months to complete the project, but I worked mainly on weekends since I needed daylight to match the color shades together.