FEATURE EDITORIAL
Heritage Publishing, Inc. © 2012
HEALING ARTS
Crafts and More Bedside programs are important for patients with chronic
illnesses that spend a lot of time in the hospital. Artists work with patients one-on-one to make crafts, read stories, and create drawings, paintings and other creative projects to help distract patients from pain. The joy and confidence that creating and sharing projects brings to patients cannot be measured. Hospitals like Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville offer bedside arts programs to help patients connect with caregivers and offer emotional support.
Staff The benefit of incorporating the arts into medicine extends
Photo Courtesy of Society for the Arts in Healthcare Visual art can be just as therapeutic for those who create it
as those who view it. A project by Shands Arts in Medicine added painted tiles to the ceiling that patients see when they are being wheeled down the hall in a gurney. The “healing ceiling” tiles were hand-painted by patients, patients’ families and artists to add aesthetics to the hospital and create a sense of comfort instead of the uninviting, white ceiling when patients first enter the hospital.
Art can also make patients feel more comfortable; visual arts
can create a sense of “place” for patients when they are in a foreign environment, like a hospital. When people think of hospitals, images of flowers and beaches do not typically come to mind, but when in Florida that may just be what you see. Many hospitals in Florida use local landscape paintings and photos as part of their design inside the hospital to give patients a sense of home.
“Everybody has their sense of place, and when you’re in the
hospital you can kind of lose that because you’re in a sterile environment. It can be depressing. Art and music can really help you overcome that,” says DeWitt.
beyond the patients. Medical facilities’ doctors, nurses, administrative staff and all other employees are also affected by the arts. Those who work in a hospital day in and day out can become run down by the physical and emotional toll. The arts can help reverse some of the effects of everyday stress as well as promote wellness among staff.
DeWitt says art can be an important tool for retaining staff.
These people get burned out because they are working really hard in a difficult situation.
Shands Arts in Medicine introduced the Mind and Body
Renewal programs in 2007. The programs focus on recuperating staff through meditation, relaxation and even a massage station. Because the staff spends so much time in the hospital, it is important to make it as peaceful an environment as possible.
“Art really does lower blood pressure, stress and anxiety. The
arts really help with the whole working environment. We know that when the arts are incorporated into a health care environment that there are higher rates of recruitment and retention for the health care providers,” says Anita Boles, executive director of Society for the Arts in Healthcare.
Even with advancements in medicine we cannot eliminate
suffering. But, by incorporating the arts into health care, symptoms start to fade so the body, mind and soul can heal.
Photo Courtesy of Society for the Arts in Healthcare 2012-2013 The Greater Daytona Healthcare GuideTM 15
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196