THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HEALING ARTS IN EAR, NOSE AND THROAT PATIENT RECOVERY

Patients who are experiencing a temporary or permanent loss of a sense can greatly benefit from the healing art therapies of art, music and writing. For some patients, these therapies are crucial to healing and adjusting to a new way of life.

At St. Paul’s Hospital, patients are currently referred to the Healing Arts Program by their health care provider. Therapy is provided in the Healing Arts studio, in common areas, or at the bedside for patients that are more acute.

At the new ENT Clinic, Healing Arts Program staff will visit every patient who requires a hospital stay prior to their surgery to discuss how healing art therapies may benefit them as part of their daily post-operative and recovery process.

St. Paul’s is an acute care research Hospital. There is already research to suggest certain people benefit from the artistic touch more than others do, but Dr. Sharma and the Healing Arts Program want to learn more. The ENT Clinic will actively conduct research to help gain more insight into the patients who could benefit most from healing arts therapies. The research will help determine the medical management of ENT patients over the long-term.

Marlessa Wesolowski, the Artist in Residence for Healing Arts Program at St. Paul’s Hospital, is thrilled about the potential for the new ENT Clinic: “We are so grateful to all of the donors who provide 100% of the funding required to support the Healing Arts Program at St. Paul’s Hospital. The program enhances and support the holistic nature of the care offered at St. Paul’s Hospital by creating opportunities where patients and families can express themselves freely and create meaning through visual art, music therapy, and literary art. The ENT Clinic will provide our Program with another channel through which to reach patients who could benefit from the healing arts, and to further understand their needs.”

Dr. Anil Sharma, himself a lover of art and a painter, is inspired by the power of art and the role it plays in patient healing. In addition to advancing patient recovery, he understands that the arts can contribute to developing more compassionate, caring and observant medical practitioners. He says: “I’ve always been interested in analysing the link between ENT medicine and the arts. The new Art of the Senses Clinic will provide that link where patients can focus on their treatment and healing through the arts, while our medical residents can understand the tremendous benefits  a holistic approach – in this case between the science and the arts – can bring to a patient. ” Having healing art therapies as part of the daily practice at the Clinic will further advance this understanding with physicians, and with medical residents working there. 

Learn more about the Healing Arts Program, visit the Healing Arts Studio, or check out The Healing Arts Gallery online.