Jean Seaton says she was born an artist. One look at her drawing above, and it’s hard to argue with that assertion. But Jean had a lengthy and storied career in health care before getting back to that passion.

Jean spent 34 years as a nurse at Nebraska Medicine, starting on 5 West, working in the Adult ICU and moving to the Emergency Department in 2001. Her last ten years there, she was a lead RN, working exclusively on the night shift. She retired in July of 2021. 

“I have been drawing and painting my whole life,” says Jean. “I have an art degree from UNO. I had always planned to be an artist. But when I graduated, there weren’t many art-related jobs in Omaha, so I continued my education in nursing like several family members. When I retired, I planned to go back to art.”

The drawing, entitled “2020,” is one of the first examples of Seaton’s foray back into the art world. She created it to recognize the hard work and dedication of her former colleagues, despite all the obstacles placed in their path over the course of the last two years.

“I just thought of all of my friends who are still there and they mean so much to so many,” says Jean. “I do lots of drawings and one of my former coworkers suggested I should do something nursing-related. This was the result.”

A lot of thought went into this piece. And there is a lot of meaning behind the depicted imagery. The nurse is double-masked, wearing goggles and a surgical cap–the way most nurses have looked for nearly two years now.

The sculpture, the Search Tower, by artist Jun Kaneko, serves as a bright spot on the horizon for ED nurses and techs. She says it’s what they see when looking out of the trauma bay doors waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

The two hearts–one simple and the other complex–are “What you have to have to do the job,” says Jean. “It’s what keeps you in this. It’s also a big part of saving a life.”

“This drawing will be an inspiration to everyone working in the Emergency Department,” says Mike Wadman, MD, chairman of the department of Emergency Medicine at UNMC. “For it to have been drawn by someone who has experienced the same things that everyone here is going through at this moment in time makes it even more meaningful. We can’t thank Jean enough for using her artistic talents to create the perfect piece for us.”

Seaton’s drawing will soon be hung in a prominent location in the Emergency Department at both Nebraska Medical Center and Bellevue Medical Center where everyone will be able to see it. “It was incredibly gratifying to be able to do this for my former colleagues,” says Jean. “I just hope this art lets the health care workers know that someone thinks they’re awesome.”