MUSEUM MAKING CONNECTIONS
ARTS IN MEDICINE
Arts In Medicine utilizes the arts to provide opportunities for self-expression for people undergoing chemotherapy. This program is designed to enhance the healing process by facilitating creative expression in local medical environments.
Taking place in the chemotherapy infusion centers at Edwards Comprehensive Cancer Center and St. Mary’s Medical Center, AIM artist/facilitators provide adults with the opportunity to participate in one-on-one, patient and companion, or group arts programming and activities.
When patients work through an art project, they experience success and feel pride in their accomplishments. While the circumstances of their disease oftentimes cause them to feel powerless, when they focus on something positive, using their hands and minds to create, they feel empowered.
Adaptable to patients’ schedules, needs, abilities and preferred methods of expression, AIM engages individuals in their own healing process through creative encounters developed to:
- Provide opportunities to express a range of emotions
- Reduce anxiety, isolation and withdrawal through interaction
- Facilitate a positive association with the hospital experience
- Connect patients with one another and health professionals
- Build a sense of community within the hospital; and
- Facilitate positive experiences and self-expression.
Arts in Medicine is presented in partnership with the Pallottine Foundation of Huntington.