Looking at art could have a beneficial effect on patient wellness, according to a new study. Although not a field of complementary medicine that has been studied in much detail, art therapy is thought to improve patient wellbeing, and therefore works of art are being used in waiting rooms in several important hospitals across the country.
This is especially the case in the Westchester Medical Centre, where the walls of the Infusion Centre are decorated with beautiful paintings, such as Italian rooftops, painted by Tova Snyder, stunning photographs such as the sky photographs by Joseph Squillante, quirky photographs by artists like Marc Winstein or any of the other works of art by regional artists which brighten up the walls.
Since the facility opened in mid-February, the unit has offered medical oncology care, including every aspect from consultations to chemotherapy. In addition to the very best in patient care, the facility offers excellent patient comfort, and part of this is in the beautiful waiting room and private cubicles, which are all well-furnished and designed to be aesthetic and pleasing to the eye.
All around the walls, the amazing and varied artwork has been designed to entertain the patients and also to boost their wellness. Each work of art has been carefully selected to help comfort patients and to boost their morale (and of course to boost the comfort and morale of those attending the facility with cancer patients – as well as the staff who work in the centre).
This is part of a larger arts-as-healing programme, where the environment that the patients are in is used to help heal patients in a holistic way. The belief behind this programme is that the environment is a natural and vital part of the healing process, and that patients who are in an attractive and morale-boosting surrounding are more likely to respond well to the cancer treatment than those who attend ordinary, traditional facilities.
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