Art for healing

Webster defines art as man’s ability to arrange natural conditions to one’s use; it also refers to the creation of works that are esthetically pleasing in form, context and execution. Mainstream medicine has recognized the value of art in the healing and recovery of the ill. Hospitals throughout the world, even in our third-world backyard, have established art therapy programs like music, dance, poetry, theater and painting as complementary approaches to the extent of redefining their mission and vision statements. The role of the patients’ spirituality and mind is considered crucial to their healing process. Arts in Medicine provide options in pain and stress management choices and help patients confront major health upheavals by providing cathartic outlets for self-expression.

It is a horrendous experience for any grownup, much more for a child, to be confronted with a life-threatening disease like cancer. It is difficult to endure the side effects of chemotherapy and harder still to sort through the complex maze that mangles the routines of childhood. Quality of life issues are barely considered in the clinical context of cancer chemotherapy and the impact the disease has on the patient, family and community are understated or ignored. Because there are no scientific tools to quantify the effects of art in the healing and recovery of the sick, many practitioners are still reluctant to embrace what they consider an unorthodox and unproven approach to healing. But medical journals contain studies that show the correlations between art and how it influences one’s health status, quality of life, length of hospital stay and physical pain.

Opting not to have another brutal round of what I call combat chemo, I now use art to sustain an acceptable quality of life and help lessen my discomfort and pain. Cancer pain is a nagging, gnawing giant toothache and it easily takes its toll even on those who claim to be made of sterner stuff. I’ve abandoned the haunting charcoal portraits and contorted nudes of my juvenile years and now settle for the more cheerful and elemental art of cross- stitching, beaded jewelry making, candle making and scrap booking. Urged by a newfound journalist friend, I now write more substantively and substantially not only about my illness experience but also about the most incidental details and nuances of daily life. My wall teems with the art works of my nieces and nephews and my bed-turned-bunker brims with bits and pieces of arts and crafts – bead wire, polished stones, crystals, unfinished cross-stitches, Neruda’s poetry and a box of oil pastels I’ve yet to learn how to use. When reluctantly bedridden, I immerse myself in art and play with my pain.

Since my first cancer diagnosis in 2001, I’ve visited numerous children having cancer treatment at the Baguio General Hospital (BGH), the old public hospital where I was born. Most of them come from poor families from the Cordillera hinterlands (as far as Kalinga and Abra) and the nearby lowlands (like Pangasisnan). Weary from their long commute and oftentimes without the necessary finances to see them through prolonged confinements, they have nothing much to do but wait. Waiting has become a tedious preoccupation. Perhaps if the BGH children slept in beds like mine, strewn with art stuff ( and yes, cuddly toys, cushy pillows, clean sheets and warm colorful blankets), their hospital experience may be more bearable. Perhaps coloring pictures, having a book read to and playing with clay will lessen their discomfort and physical pain, albeit momentarily, from the septic hospital smells, scary needles, the sight of blood and stained white coats. Perhaps doing such activities will lighten the gloomy surroundings and bring back some semblance of normal childhood.

Part of the windfall from bagging second place in the "My Favorite Book- Year 2" writing contest, sponsored the The Philippine Star and the National Book Store, as well as funds pooled by friends who support the cause will jump-start the fledgling art for healing program for sick children, particularly those having cancer treatment at the BGH. The program is an initiative of the BGH pedia doctors and my friends who know firsthand that using art as part of medical treatment nurtures a healing environment where creativity, self-expression and fun can help give back the children’s lost sense of control due to the complexities of illness. The doctors have started distributing art packets with coloring and children’s books, modeling clay, crayons and tiny stuffed toys to their patients. Daily pediatric charity admissions range from two to 10 patients and already, the art packets are dwindling. Readers who’d like to give art materials for children aged two to 14 may contact me at cell phone no. 0919-6444909. You may also send the art supplies care of pedia chief resident Dr. Reinelda Runez, Charity Pediatric Department, Baguio General Hospital, Baguio City.

The art for healing program is an offshoot of the continuing initiatives of local residents who get wind of the sick children’s plight in the local weeklies. Minda’s Buddies, a self-help cancer support group in the city of Baguio co-facilitated by my onco-pal Felina, now and then gives cross-stitch materials to the mothers who’d like to sew and later sell the pieces to help raise funds for their children’s cancer treatment. An accomplished musician and a college faculty choir share their talents by performing in the ward during the holidays. A local school not only raises funds for the sick children but also sends personally-made get-well-soon cards, food and toys to the little patients. Recently Dr. Patch Adams (whose life work of building the Gesundheit Institute, a community-based free hospital in Virginia, USA was the inspiration behind the movie Patch Adams) sent a postcard – the enlarged version of which now hangs in the pedia ward for the children and their caregivers to see. It shows red-nosed Patch sitting next to a boy lying on a hospital bed, grinning widely. Both seem to share a a funny secret. Beneath the picture is Patch’s scribbled note : For all the blessed children healing themselves in therapy, I send you all my healing joy, love and laughter, I will pray for you always. In peace, Patch

With the grace of God and continued community support, this cause will be sustained and the BGH children may yet reclaim a small measure of their wonder years.