“Before I Die” Wall Arrives at Grass Valley Hospital

GRASS VALLEY — A new community art board inside Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital asks anyone who walks past it to finish a single sentence: “Before I die, I want to…” The freestanding board sits in Building Three on the Grass Valley campus, where participants write their answers on sticky notes and post them for other visitors to read. Foothills Compassionate Care and Dignity Health Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital installed it together, and both organizations describe it as an invitation to stop and reflect in a building patients, families, volunteers, and staff members pass through year-round.

Early answers range from the far-flung to the immediate. Notes already posted on the board include “visit Germany,” “backpack on the PCT,” a reference to the Pacific Crest Trail, “photograph polar bears at Hudson Bay,” and “savor the moments!”

The idea is not local in origin. The artist Candy Chang painted the first such wall in 2011 on the side of an abandoned house near her home in New Orleans, Louisiana, after the death of a woman she has written was like a mother to her for fifteen years. She made a homemade stencil reading “Before I die I want to _____,” covered the wall in chalkboard paint, and left out chalk so neighbors could answer. By the next day, she wrote, the wall was full and still growing.

Chang eventually published a free toolkit so other communities could build walls without her involvement. More than 5,000 have since been created in more than 75 countries and more than 35 languages, according to the artist. The project is released under a Creative Commons license permitting free noncommercial use, and Chang asks in return that each wall stay free to the public, carry no advertising or logos, and keep the word “die” in the prompt.

Hilary Hodge, the Mayor of Grass Valley, joined the staff of Foothills Compassionate Care in February as Director of Development and Marketing. “This project builds community. The hopes and dreams of our neighbors can remind us that we have far more in common than we often realize. It can build empathy, encourage gratitude, and strengthen community,” Hodge said. “One sentence can spark a meaningful connection between community members.”

Foothills Compassionate Care is a nonprofit organization that has served Western Nevada County for more than four decades. The organization provides hospice care, palliative care, grief support, volunteer services, and community education, and says more than 500 patients and their families turn to it each year. It describes the board as an extension of a mission centered on helping people live fully through serious illness, grief, and other transitions.

Brian Stoltey, Director of Mission Integration and Community Health at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, framed the installation as part of a broader definition of care. “Healthcare is about much more than treating illness. It’s about helping people discover what matters most to them,” Stoltey said.

“We are so grateful to partner on this project. What I love about ‘Before I Die’ is that it invites us to reflect on what makes life beautiful and worthwhile. Everyone, patients, visitors and care providers alike, has a story still unfolding. This gives us a chance to think about living on purpose.”

The hospital display is intended to last a few weeks, though Hodge said no end date has been set. Full sections of the board will be cleared as they fill to make room for new responses, Hodge said, and the notes taken down will be saved. Foothills Compassionate Care then plans to move the board to other locations serving the community over many months, beginning with the Nevada County government campus in Nevada City. While it remains at the hospital, the board is open to the public, and visitors are encouraged to return and read what their neighbors have written.