UAB Hospital using art to help sick patients
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Spending time in a hospital can be tough for a lot of people so UAB Hospital is looking to make it easier with the new Institute for Arts in Medicine (AIM).
The hospital launched a small scale program back in September of 2013 to see how patients would react. AIM Program Director Kimberly Kirklin says the response was great. The art activities helped to lower a patient's perception of pain and reduce anxiety. The results were enough for UAB to launch a full scale program.
"Being able to work with the hospital community, it's a group that I've never worked with before," explained Lillis Taylor.
Taylor is one of six resident-artists at UAB Hospital using the healing power of art. Creating art with fabric is part of Taylor's specialty. Her fellow artists have their own.
"We have a story teller and she also does Zen tango, we have a dance and movement specialist, and a wonderful playwright actor," added Kirkland.
The program launched last September according to Kirkland and since then the team of artists has given dance lessons, written plays, and offered sewing classes to hospital patients, their families and even those who treat them. AIM has reached more than 5,000 people in the UAB community so far.
"They can participate in an activity and forget the stressful environment that they might be in," explained Kirkland.
A massive quilt project is the program's first project aimed at bringing the community together. All 3,000 individually seen pieces will eventually be sewn into one large quilt hanging on one of the walls of the UAB Women and Infant Center.
Taylor says she is looking forward to final product and the impact it will make along it way.
Taylor says she is looking forward to final product and the impact it will make along it way.
"So calm the mind, calm the spirit and I do think it's an important aspect of medicine. Of course we are not doctors," added Taylor.
Kirkland says AIM offers of variety of activities for a range of patients. The resident artists have specific units they currently visit but a patient who is interested can contact AIM. Visit http://www.uabmedicine.org/arts for more information.