Not long after I took the position as executive director of the Penticton Arts Council I was invited by resident doctor, Joy Anne Krupa, to join a new arts committee at the Penticton Regional Hospital. Given my background in Interior Architecture I jumped at the opportunity.
Good design and good art have the proven ability to heal and alleviate suffering. While I didn’t focus on hospital design on my thesis many of my fellow graduates did. The students that did choose to focus on hospital design did so because of very personal experience with loved ones suffering for long periods in hospitals or palliative care homes. Solutions range from simple things such as adding art, murals or poetry to the more complex technology of color, light and sound therapy.
Joy Anne and fellow residents physicians Jackie Bourdeaux and Rebecca Psutka share the same passion for the importance of art in medicine as my colleagues. While they come at it from a medical background the knowledge is the same; art can help heal and alleviate suffering.
Thanks to these ladies this new arts committee is now gaining momentum. The committee is populated with very significant members of Interior Health representing a variety of program areas, City of Penticton, the Penticton Indian Band and of course, artists.
While it is no simple task to bring art in all its forms to the patients, staff and visitors of the hospital, there are some very simple and exciting projects brewing. Concepts related to patient engagement and participation, relationship building and way finding are tools that will take the program into deeper realms than purely hanging beautiful work on the walls. We are also proposing that elements of the Arts Rising Penticton festival in September be brought to the hospital. I can’t explain the twitter of excitement that was tangible in the residents when I mentioned that.
I can’t say much more on the topic at this time, but I urge you to watch this program develop. It will be one that warms the hearts of many.