From Printing Signs to Capturing Moments

Sarah Evans, Photo Lab Manager, and the Photo Lab Team

Sarah Evans, who joined Massachusetts General Hospital as manager of the Photo Lab in mid-January, was still learning the ropes when the world—and her workload—changed suddenly in March. 

The Photo Lab provides not only photography and videography services, but also graphic design and printing, all of which have gone into overdrive. On the afternoon of March 13 alone, the Photo Lab created 3,500 visitor information cards to be placed on meal trays, 250 laminated clinical sheets for patient care and 17 visitor poster boards. In March and April, the Photo Lab received more than 60 photo assignments and 10 video projects. April saw orders of more than 27,000 copies of items like patient care guidelines, N95 stickers and attestation sheets along with 700 posters and the design of two exhibits, one about the outpouring of support for Mass General staff and the other about Florence Nightingale, to recognize National Nurses Week.

“In the first month we did a lot of printing, including informational and directional signs about travel advisories and the visitor policy. Then our photographer Kate Flock began photographing clinicians and support staff to document how the hospital is responding to the pandemic.”

“Visuals tell a story,” she says. “Our work has included practical personal protective equipment (PPE) donning and doffing videos, quietly powerful moments of clinicians and photos showing signs of the times, like group shots with masks and six-foot spacing and happy birthday messages via video selfies. These moments are part of the Mass General experience.”

Evans is proud of the accomplishments of her seven-person team. “Especially since I’m still so new, I owe a huge shout-out to the team because they’ve stepped up to get the work done and to work around problems, like our vinyl printer being offline for a while,” says Evans. “They’ve kept everything humming, and with such enthusiasm.”