California Hospital Tech Brightens Kids' Casts with Amazing Artwork

Wendy Grossman Kantor
·2 min read
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Luis Ruiz, An orthopaedic technician at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles draws fun drawings on casts... Courtesy of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Luis Ruiz, An orthopaedic technician at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles draws fun drawings on casts... Courtesy of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Kids are often stressed and scared when they break a bone, but Luis Ruiz makes getting a cast fun at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. The orthopedic technician customizes casts of young patients with drawings of their favorite cartoon characters, sports teams, and more.

"About ten years ago, a little boy asked me to draw a happy face on his cast. I told him, 'You know what, I'm really not good at drawing. I'd rather not. I might mess it up,'" Ruiz tells PEOPLE.

The boy continued to insist on a smiley face, so Ruiz agreed. The little boy was ecstatic with the results.

"It lit him up!" Ruiz remembers.

That moment of joy inspired Ruiz to offer cast drawings to all the kids who came into the hospital with broken bones.

Luis Ruiz, An orthopaedic technician at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles draws fun drawings on casts... The little boy is Forrest Greene, 6. He loves Spiderman and received his cast on July 11, 2022. Photo credit: Courtesy of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Luis Ruiz, An orthopaedic technician at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles draws fun drawings on casts... The little boy is Forrest Greene, 6. He loves Spiderman and received his cast on July 11, 2022. Photo credit: Courtesy of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

"I was not very good," Ruiz says. "But as time went by, little by little, I got better and better, to a point where now I can almost do anything they ask for."

Ruiz started his cast art career using permanent markers but now uses oil-based paint pens, which he found work better on a cast's rough material.

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Since that first smiley face, Ruiz has painted thousands of casts, and the best part, he says, is "bringing those smiles."

Luis Ruiz, An orthopaedic technician at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles draws fun drawings on casts... Courtesy of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Luis Ruiz, An orthopaedic technician at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles draws fun drawings on casts... Courtesy of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

"The kids just bring me joy," Ruiz adds. "I'm kind of a fun guy and a little kid myself inside, and I like having fun and making kids smile, and they make me smile."

A moment that stands out to Ruiz from his decade of decorating casts was when he met a young girl with cancer who wanted a Wonder Woman emblem drawn on her cast.

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"It made her very happy to go around with that [drawing], because she got a lot of compliments on it," Ruiz shares.

These moments of joy matter most to Ruiz, who sees children in the hospital get asked serious questions about their health. His cast drawings often give kids in the hospital something fun to talk about and bring them "a joyful moment instead of having to explain what happened to them."