We've Done Some Good
Date: April 26, 2004

Studies have proven that art, when used in the health care setting, helps to alleviate pain, counteract depression, aprehension or fear and promotes physical rehabilitation. However, it doesn’t take clinical studies to show that art promotes healing, to see those kinds of results, a simple tour of the Arts In Medicine program in action at Floyd Medical Center is all you need.

We’ll start at the top — the 6th floor. Here we’ll visit a patient in the Palatine Suites. He’s from another country, so we sing a song that reminds him of his homeland. He smiles, and we know we’ve done some good.

We stop at physical rehabilitation and sing some folk songs for a group of patients in the gymnasium. They sing along and laugh, and we know we’ve done some good.

Now it’s down to the 5th floor to visit coronary critical care patients and the 4th floor to visit some of our “regulars,” patients who have been hospitalized for a week or longer. There’s a man who loves visits from the Art Cart. We inspire him with drawing ideas, and he keeps us supplied with pictures for our refrigerator doors. Another man likes bluegrass music. We talk about the roots of Appalachian music and sing “Wildwood Flower” and “Rocky Top.” These “regulars” become our friends. They look forward to our visits, and we know we’ve done some good.

Our next stop is the 3rd floor. First we visit pediatrics, where children paint large ceiling tiles to leave their artistic mark over our heads. Here, we sing lively renditions of “Scooby Doo” or “Spongebob Squarepants.” The kids know all the lyrics. They sing along, and we know we’ve done some good.

Next, we go to the Intensive Care waiting room. The families there need care just as their loved ones do, so we sing songs of hope. They ask us to play for their family members in ICU, and we know we’ve done some good. We visit the ICU and play a very gentle and sweet “Amazing Grace” and “In The Garden.” The patient closes his eyes and his breathing relaxes, and we know we’ve done some good.

While we’re on the 3rd floor, we visit a mom on bedrest in Labor and Delivery. She’s Hispanic and speaks no English. So, we present for her a live magic show in Spanish. She smiles, and claps her hands, and we know we’ve done some good.

Next, we go to the second floor and arrive in the lobby. Our new lobby! Wow! There’s beautiful art on our Art Gallery wall and the fountains are so relaxing. Beautiful music resonates from the ebony baby grand piano, the site of frequent concerts. We see nurses bringing patients down to hear it, and we know we’ve done some good.

We’ll make one last stop. Let’s go back upstairs to see a critical care patient who is inactive. She has been unresponsive to all stimuli. She cannot talk with us. She cannot paint with us. She cannot sing with us, but we can sing to her. We start with a sweet gospel song, because the nurses have told us gospel is her favorite. As we sing, we smile at her, but she does not see us. Then, we notice this formerly unresponsive patient is now moving — just slightly. She is tapping her toe to the rhythm of the music. A single tear slips down your cheek, and it’s OK, because you know we’ve done some good.

You may have noticed we did a lot of “good” in this story, but where is the “care”? Well, just as the nurses give care to the patients so do we. That is because we are more than a belief, more than a study. We are Arts In Medicine. We are arts, and we are medicine. And, we know we’ve done some good.

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