Cherokee Nation officials are using cultural art to create a sense of comfort for health care patients and their families by adding prayer feather sculptures to the landscape at two of its health facilities.
Cherokee artists Bill Glass and Demos Glass placed the first of the culturally significant sculptures at the A-Mo Health Center in Salina. Recently, a second sculpture was installed at the Redbird Smith Health Center in Sallisaw.
Cherokee culture considers the feather a source of pride, and tribal officials are hopeful the sculptures will give patients and their families a sense of calmness as they enter health centers.
The tribe operates the largest tribal health system in the U.S, made of eight health centers throughout tribal land and W.W. Hastings Hospital in Tahlequah.
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