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Oishei grant supports new Arts in Healthcare program
By DAVID WEDEKINDT
Reporter Contributor
The Center for the Arts has been awarded a $287,182 grant by the John R. Oishei Foundation to establish a program that will bring the performing arts and artists into health-care settings to enhance the healing environment for patients and caregivers in Western New York.
The center's innovative Arts in Healthcare initiative is being established in collaboration with Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo, a Kaleida Health facility.
The first program of its kind in Western New York, it will be modeled after a highly successful program at the University of Florida. Plans call for Arts in Healthcare to expand to additional health-care facilities in the region.
"Through many of our community-based grants, we have seen the remarkable influence of the arts in conveying information and helping to change behaviors," said Robert D. Gioia, president of the Oishei Foundation. "We are particularly interested in seeing the results of a formal, institutionally based program with the resources behind it brought by UB and the Kaleida system."
President John B. Simpson noted that the arts contribute in vital ways to UB's impact on the world around us. "The Arts in Healthcare program is a vivid example of the power of the public research university, working in tandem with our partner institutions across the region, to make a meaningful and lasting difference in the communities we serve," he said.
"We are proud to join with the Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo to foster an arts-enhanced healing environment for the benefit of patients and caregivers throughout the region, and we are grateful for the Oishei Foundation's strong support of this visionary Center for the Arts program," Simpson added.
Thomas Burrows, executive director of the Center for the Arts, said he was inspired by the University at Florida program.
"When I was shown what the involvement and deep commitment of the very best professional artists working together with dedicated, enlightened professional caregivers could accomplish through their combined efforts to benefit patients, their families and hospital staff, I knew that the Center for the Arts could and should create a comprehensive program within this great research university for and with the larger community," he said.
"We have been so fortunate to find such a willing and far-sighted partner in Women & Children's Hospital. This program has been designed to grow, evolve and to meet changing needs as they become apparent."
Cheryl Klass, president of Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo, noted: "This innovative program will continue to enhance the healing environment we provide for women and children in our hospital. We are so pleased to partner with UB and bring this innovative program to life in Western New York."
Arts in Healthcare has been in the planning stages for the past year; the Center for the Arts has worked closely on its development with Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo and Jill Sonke-Henderson, co-founder and co-director of the University of Florida's Center for the Arts in Healthcare Research and Education (CAHRE).
Burrows noted that the shared vision of the two organizations has brought the initiative to fruition quickly. Two pilot projects were completed this fall with classical guitarist Robert Bluestone and the Hudson Vagabond Puppets.
He said that next summer the Center for the Arts will host an intensive training program facilitated by the University of Florida's CAHRE program where local invited visual artists, musicians, poets, dancers and storytellers will be trained to work with patients, families and staff in health-care settings as integral members of the health-care team.
Burrows said Arts in Healthcare is aligned with the strategic strengths in "Artistic Expression and Performing Arts" and "Health and Wellness Across the Life Span" that have been identified in the UB 2020 strategic plan being implemented by UB with the goal of rising among the ranks of the nation's public research universities.
"The program will offer the benefits of multidisciplinary research and scholarship for the benefit of our community, while allowing the center to broaden its artistic and cultural reach in the region," he added. "This project will help to increase the national and international visibility of UB and Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo."
The arts have existed in health-care systems since the beginning of recorded history. Early in the 20th century, however, the arts were dropped from Western health care with the intention of making health-care facilities appear sleek, sanitary and more focused on technology. In the second half of the century, there was a resurgence of interest in bringing art back into health-care environments.
Burrows said studies have shown that integrating the arts into these settings helps to cultivate a healing environment, support the mental and emotional recovery of patients, communicate health and recovery information, and foster positive working conditions for caregivers to improve satisfaction and retention.
He noted that visual, literary and performing arts are flourishing in hospitals, outpatient programs, hospices, and nursing and retirement facilities throughout the world. The most comprehensive and well-integrated program is the one in Florida where Shands Hospital created an "Artist-in-Residence" program in 1991 for its pediatric oncology clinic. The program spread rapidly to other units and by 1997 there were 14 visual, literary and performance artists in the facility. The University of Florida Performing Arts (UFPA) and Shands Arts in Medicine formed a partnership to bring performing artists from UFPA's season into the health-care setting.
The University of Florida's Center for the Arts in Healthcare Research and Education was established in 1999. CAHRE provides a framework for interdisciplinary collaboration among University of Florida faculty and students, health-care providers, clinical artists, and the local and global communities. The program has been so successful that a new initiative, AIM Together Florida, is being funded by the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs to expand the program into five additional Florida partnerships.