ARTS IN HEALTHCARE

Why jewelry? Why hospitals? In Cultures of Care: A Study of Arts Programs in U.S. Hospitals, 79% of 2,333 responding healthcare institutions said they supported the arts because of their ability to bring healing and motivate, while other benefits include helping the patients’ families and aiding the patients’ physical, mental, and emotional healing (State of the Field Committee 4). At Feel Beautiful Today we see the joy on patients’ faces every time we hold a workshop for them. We see the excitement every time a patient triumphantly finishes a bracelet or their half of a Joined in Hope necklace. But what we don’t see is the physical or emotional transformation over a long period of time, so it is studies like Cultures of Care: A Study of Arts Programs in U.S. Hospitals that allow us to catch a glimpse of the long range effects of what we do. 

The integration of unconventional methods of healing and conventional methods of care within the healthcare system is a growing topic of discussion. The use of arts in a patient’s treatment is considered Arts in Healthcare. According to the 2009 State of the Field Report: Arts in Healthcare, Arts in Healthcare is “a diverse, multidisciplinary field dedicated to transforming the healthcare experience by connecting people with the power of the arts at key moments in their lives. This rapidly growing field integrates the arts, including literary, performing, and visual arts and design, into a wide variety of healthcare and community settings for therapeutic, educational, and expressive purposes.” The impact holding a jewelry making session can have is deep and far reaching. According to the previous President and CEO of Rady Children’s Hospital, Blair Sadler, “When the arts…are used in hospitals and palliative care settings, pain and anxiety are reduced for patients…I am optimistic that promising new research will show these programs will reap the additional benefits of shorter hospital stays, less medication, and fewer complications…” (State of the Field Committee 8). Ultimately this is our goal at Feel Beautiful Today, to bring hope for a moment and healing for a lifetime. While we have no way of knowing what the future may hold for each woman and young girl struggling with cancer, our desire is to see them fight today and continue fighting each new day. 

Patients, however, are not the only ones who benefit from the use of arts in the healthcare system. Research shows that “arts programming can create a less stressful work environment for nurses and other healthcare professionals” as well as “[improve] nurse-patient communication” (State of the Field Committee 8,14). So many times we see the connection between a nurse and patient grow as they work together in our Joined in Hope program to make one piece of beautiful jewelry. It is a symbol of their reliance on each other and the bond they share as they travel this journey together. Happy nurses make for more effective nurses, and we recognize just how instrumental they are in each woman and young girl’s recovery. 

Things are slowly changing as more and more hospitals and other healthcare providers are realizing the benefits of Arts in Healthcare. In a survey taken in 2004, under half of the institutions interviewed said they included art programs in their budget while in 2007 over half of the institutions interviewed said they included art programs in their budget (State of the Field Committee 5). The momentum is building, and since 2010, Feel Beautiful Today has been a part of the movement in Georgia and will continue to do so with the help of our dedicated sponsors, staff and volunteers. 

References:

State of the Field Committee. State of the Field Report: Arts in Healthcare. Washington         

DC: Society for the Arts in Healthcare, 2009. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.  

For more information on how you can be a part of the movement, please visit www.feelbeautifultoday.org or follow us on Facebook/feelbeautifultoday.