Des Moines Register, July 2005
A Soothing Illusion

People Who Spend Hours in Therapy Look at Gauzy Clouds.

The radiation treatment rooms at Mercy Therapeutic Radiology Associates are proof — with carpeted floors, soothing ceiling artwork and sound systems so patients can listen to their own music.
For patient Keith Surber, attention to these details put him more at ease during his five treatments with the CyberKnife, a new robot-run machine unveiled by Mercy in May that destroys tumors in hard-to-reach spots. Surber's sessions, which lasted 2V2 hours each, were to treat an inoperable tumor on his spine.

Surber, 59, who lives in Montezuma, brought his ABBA and Ken-ny Loggins CDs to be played during the treatments. The music, along with ceiling art of the night sky seen through a skylight, helped provide a comfortable ambience.

The manmade skyscape, called a SkyCeiling, was produced by Fairfield-based company called the Sky Factory. The circular SkyCeiling features a pale sliver of a moon hanging against a deep blue sky, tree branches speckled with bright green leaves and gauzy white clouds.

"It really brightens up the room and takes away the institutional look," Surber said. "This machine is pretty intimidating."

Mercy Therapeutic Radiology has three SkyCeilings, the first installed in late 2003, Deming said. The hospital also invested in three virtual windows made by the Sky Factory, with landscapes that use a window as the point of reference. Each virtual window costs $2,000 to $3,000. The ceiling murals cost from $3,000 to $13,000.

The images help patients relax and lie still, which is imperative during treatments. A SkyCeiling is especially helpful for radiation therapy patients because they often lie on their backs during treatment, Deming said. Treatments with a linear accelerator can last anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes to one to three hours with the CyberKnife.

"What we try to create is a soothing, relaxing atmosphere," he said. "The more the patient can relax ... the less movement there will be."

Studies have shown that views of nature provide a diversion for patients, can help reduce and relieve stress, and positively help the patient's healing process, said Leslie Dahl, who oversaw the interior design for all three SkyCeiling installations at Mercy.

"It's a wonderful way to give them something to look at, and kind of a positive distraction to what they're going through," said Dahl, director of design at Saxton Inc. "The images are beautiful, and their attention to detail at the Sky Factory is just amazing."

Mercy's SkyCeiling was so realistic, Surber said, it almost seemed as if he were "taking an afternoon nap while lying outside."

"I could imagine a plane going by, and I wouldn't know it wasn't real until I got up."

The purpose of the images is to create the feeling of serenity one gets by looking at a real landscape, said Bill Witherspoon, president of the Sky Factory

"Our goal is not to create a beautiful picture on the ceiling. Our purpose is to create a powerful illusion of sky," he said.

The sense of peace can be especially soothing in health-care settings, he said, where patients with high levels of stress and anxiety must wait for long stretches while lying on their backs.

SkyCeilings are a combination of nature photography, computer and printing technology and special lighting equipment to simulate daylight. They consist of special tiles installed against existing ceilings.

Witherspoon said the ceiling art has been placed in a variety of spaces — from living rooms and kitchens to workplace conference rooms, operating rooms in hospitals and radiology treatment areas.

The company's artwork was featured in an April episode of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," where a SkyCeiling of "The Great Nebula in Orion" was placed on the ceiling of a boy intrigued with outer space.

That project is just one of more than 600 SkyCeiUngs installed in Iowa and nationwide since the company began in July 2002, Witherspoon said.

His own fascination with the sky began in the early 1960s as a painter, and over the years he has created thousands of sky paintings. About 10 years ago he crafted his first ceiling artwork by hand-painting a watercolor of a hickory branch and white clouds against a blue sky for a Des Moines dentist.

The SkyCeiling process today involves sophisticated computer and digital imaging technology. First, the Sky Factory's photographers and astronomers take photos of everything from the sky, trees, branches and flowering trees to deep space images, Witherspoon said. The pictures are scanned into a computer.

The company has a selection of photos available on its Web site, www.theskyfactory.com. Custom-ersworkwitha designer to find the image best-suited for their location and type of ceiling, and tweak the art to the client's personal specifications, he said.

The lighting equipment used to illuminate the ceiling art is the type used for Seasonal Affective Disorder, Witherspoon said, and adds to the illusion of real daylight. The SkyCeilings are covered with a lamination film so they can be cleaned.

Ames dentist Dr. Amie Rockow-Nelson has two patient rooms with SkyCeilings and said she is thinking of installing an additional one.

"They were a good complement to our facility and our other decor we have here to help people to relax," said Rockow-Nelson, with the Ames Center for Cosmetic & Family Dentistry.

"They were just actually what we were looking for."

Patients like to look at the skyscapes of cherry blossom trees, a sight not available in central Iowa, Rockow-Nelson said.

"Quite often people comment on how they wish the weather was as 'good as the pictures, in Iowa during the wintertime."

Reporter Dawn Sagario can be reached at
(515) 284-835

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