If art has healing properties, hospitals and museums make ideal outreach partners. This was the premise that led to Community Medical Center's Everhart Care program in Scranton, Pa. The program incorporates art classes and activities from the nearby Everhart Museum into the hospital environment. The partnership, launched last winter, is the brainchild of Jamie Podhurst, the museum's outreach educational coordinator, who wanted to find a way to combine her professional background in art and health.
So far, the partnership, which primarily targets the 13,000 seniors who are members of CMC's Priority Care program, is striking a creative chord with elderly patients and hospital visitors. In July, Everhart Care attracted 150 Priority Care members. As of August that number had increased to 175, says Podhurst.
Incorporating art into the healthcare setting represents a relatively new phenomenon for hospitals that are looking to de-stress patients and visitors. Other examples include hospital-based art exhibits and integrating art activities with occupational therapies. Everhart's approach is slightly different - instead of simply displaying art, the program uses artists and art educators to pursue varying levels of interaction with patients and visitors. The key is to provide non-intrusive art to those who are interested, says Podhurst.
Art, Stress Relief and Healing
In the initial planning stages last year, Podhurst worked with Sharon Myers, CMC's program coordinator, and other clinical heads to determine:
- the areas of the hospital that would benefit most from art activities; and
- the patient groups who would be most receptive to art programs.
From these initial discussions, Podhurst developed a four-phase plan for on-site activities at both the hospital and museum.
The first and second stages involved developing on-site activities for the same-day surgery and skilled nursing areas of the hospital, where patients and visitors tend to be the most stressed and depressed. This phase of the program kicked off in December with dancers from the Scranton Civic Ballet entertaining a standing-room-only crowd of patients and staff in the skilled nursing facility. Since then, several activities have been held at the hospital, including artists painting portraits, carving wood sculptures and making jewelry.
The third and fourth phases involved customizing on-site museum classes and one-day workshops for CMC's Priority Care members.
These classes began in the spring and included introductory drawing, silk and furniture painting lessons, and workshops on a wide range of interests like a Japanese tea ceremony, nature walks and unique painting techniques. These activities, which are funded by a CMC grant of $8,500 for the year, are offered free or at a discounted price for Priority Care members.
Promoting the Partnership
The partnership is primarily being promoted through CMC's Priority Care membership newsletter and signage throughout the hospital. There has been some coverage of the program in area newspapers and an artist profile on a local TV station. Myers would like to do more proactive PR to support the program, like pitching it to newspaper-based healthcare writers and art editors as well as senior-focused magazines and religious publications.
It's important to emphasize to patients and visitors that the artists don't expect anything in return for their creations, says Myers. Once they realize the artistic demonstrations aren't gimmicks, the patients, in particular, open up and give suggestions for future ideas, says Podhurst. The Japanese Tea ceremony and silk painting classes are the most popular, according to satisfaction surveys.
From the museum's perspective, the partnership is generating targeted exposure to seniors and hospital guests that it would not ordinarily get. It has also boosted the museum's community relations with another major healthcare organization in the area, a large Jewish nursing home facility.
But to get maximum exposure, the partnership needs ongoing PR support that, with limited resources, has been difficult, says Podhurst.
(CMC Medical Center, Sharon Myers, 570/969-8007; Everhart Museum, Jamie Podhurst, 570/346-7186)
Museum Partnership Considerations
If your hospital is near a museum, consider striking a partnership that allows patients and visitors to experience various forms of art. Before forging into this relatively new territory, consider the following:
- Determine the areas of the hospital and patient populations that would most benefit from art exhibits and activities like lobbies, surgical units and recovery areas. Try to choose low-traffic areas.
- Determine the museum's strengths and the staff's outreach potential.
- Research your targets' art interests and develop customized programs based on them.
- Evaluate funding opportunities and program expenses by looking at the cost of promotional materials and planning art classes and activities.
Source: CMC/Everhart Museum