09/24/2025
Fatmir Gjeci left his home of Albania 18 years ago to give his children a better life. It has been a mission fulfilled, not only for them, but unexpectedly for him.
Gjeci – known as Mario – not only has a job as an operating room technician at Jefferson Abington Hospital, but he’s applied his self-taught artistic skills to painting large murals at several sites at the hospital, including the operating room.
Gjeci has worked at Jefferson for 14 years, assisting surgeons during operations. When he's working on a mural, he comes back on the weekends and does the painting on his own time. His department pays for paint, brushes and other supplies.
For that, he is grateful to Karen Richeal, operating room nurse manager and his supervisor, who he says has been supportive and encouraging.
"He is a very talented artist," Richeal says. "He has painted many murals in the OR which the patients appreciate."
In Albania, Gjeci had 22 years of experience in the medical field. He was a surgical nurse and then became a physical therapist.
He went into health care because "I wanted to help people. [Health care] was the best option for me to help and be close to people in order to make a positive change."
Gjeci's brother moved to the U.S. and came to Philadelphia five years before he did.
Then he, and his family, including a son and daughter – then 9 and 5 years old, respectively– followed in 2007. His parents moved here as well. Gjeci became a citizen five years after arriving in the US.
Gjeci started painting as a child and continued to make it his hobby throughout his life. He uses oils and acrylics and usually paints depictions of bucolic nature.
One of the murals in the operating room shows a view of northern Albania, with the Albanian Alps, a valley and a scenic lake.
He says the peaceful vista is meant to help calm surgical patients who may be anxious about being in the operating room.
His most recent mural was unveiled earlier this year when Jefferson Abington Hospital cut the ribbon on a new Employee Wellness Room, created as a relaxing space to support employee well-being. The room includes massage chairs, soothing music, yoga mats and walls adorned with Gjeci's murals. Several people praised him and his work on a social media post about the ribbon cutting. "Mario is the best! And so are his paintings," one person said. "He's a wonderful painter," said another.
Gjeci left Albania when he was 39 years old "for a better life," he says, "and for my children to have better opportunities."
"My parents taught me to follow my dreams and work hard at what I do," he says. "They also told me to be creative and to help others and to believe in myself."
Gjeci has cousins who still live in his hometown of Tirana, the capital city of Albania, and he visits every other year. His children also travel to see their home country.
Gjeci's children are now grown; they've been educated and now both have jobs in the private sector. And he has had the unexpected opportunity at Jefferson to combine his work and his love of painting.
"I'm grateful to Jefferson for giving me the chance to use both my hands and my heart through medicine, through art and through helping others; it has allowed me to be myself and do what I love," Gjeci says.
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