ART FOR HOSPITAL

a total stranher paint art work for health care workers

Health care workers in new york...so he created the perfect gifts.

Here's nbc's kate snow.

A special delivery from thousands of miles away... 18-hundred paintings... one for every single person who works at interfaith medical center.

Prisanna alston is the chief nursing officer.

Prissana (chief nursing officer) : i was there when the truck arrived // it just reminds me of how others who were not -- who weren't there with you, they were thinking of you.

It *really* meant a lot.

They're the work of los angeles artist michael gittes.

Back in march he watched as new york health care workers battled covid-19.

Michael: i also personally felt really powerless -- powerless and frustrated.

So he began to paint - michael: i can't paint one for everyone everywhere but i could paint one for everyone at one hospital wanting to honor frontline health care workers, especially those working in underserved communities - he did a search and found interfaith, a nonprofit, community hospital.

He called his project "strangers to no one," -simple paintings- each one of a single flower michael: if you love somebody, you give them a flower for a month gittes painted - not with a brush but with a syringe... at the hospital, nurses and doctors, janitors and administrators -- all received their own work of art.

Sheila arthur smith, an account representative, has worked at interfaith for 35 years... she contracted coronavirus and spent 8 days in the hospital back in march... sheila: they told me i had to fight her sister patricia passed away from covid-19 in april sheila: i was devastated for her, gittes' painting is a symbol of her survival sheila: it's not a big portrait.

But it represents a big part of what we're going through.

And though they've never met, interfaith's staff feel deeply connected to gittes..

Maxine: they love the painting // the artist -- if they could have just hold on to him, they would have that love passed on, from california to new york, with each unique flower michael: i just hope that everybody