Painting as medicine: Wexner Medical Center Employees reduce stress through art
“An Ohio State College of Medicine art show allows students, residents, faculty and staff of Ohio State's Health Science Colleges and the Wexner Medical Center to cultivate compassion and human expression, Serena Smith, senior consultant of media relations at the Wexner Medical Center, said. The annual event, titled "Medicine and the Arts," is comprised of two parts: a temporary show that took place March 6-8 and an extended display that opened Thursday at the James Art Gallery, running until April 18.
According to Dr. Sheryl Pfeil, director of the Linda Stone Humanism and the Arts in Medicine program, the show provides a space for rejuvenation and the recapturing of one's resilience” (Han, 2024).
This program inspires me to include hope and community in designing for my capstone project. The expression as a community intrigues me on how through design I could help a community come together to help each other.
“Wojtasek said she often turns to painting to deal with work stress because it is an activity that consistently makes her feel grounded.
‘Painting is kind of like my medicine and it's therapeutic in that way,’ Wojtasek said. ‘In addition to being therapeutic, it's like a nice goal-oriented activity for me to have outside of work’” (Han, 2024).
Creating goals in my design could be helpful to keep people on track and remembering my design. Even something that should be used in an emergency will function better if the people using it have a reason to continually train for it. As well, when the design is activated giving simple goal oriented process steps can help people be more willing and at ease to complete the task.
“Irwin's work focuses on addressing trauma and reducing suicide risk, and she does a lot of research on ways to reduce stress that can also be used in her daily life.
‘I'm trying to apply what I learn in my studies to myself,’ Irwin said.
Irwin said taking breaks for relaxation is important.
‘I encourage people to spend more time in nature and be more mindful of their relations with the natural world,’ Irwin said” (Han, 2024).
Throughout reading this and other articles in my review, I am reminded that medical care does not have to come directly in the form of a traditional medical device. Stress relief and preventative measures like painting and going out to nature are equally as important as being able to act when an emergency is taking place. Medical design can be for daily extended use, not just rush emergency situations.
References
Han, C. (2024, March 25). Painting as medicine: Wexner Medical Center employees reduce stress through art. The Lantern. https://www.thelantern.com/2024/03/painting-as-medicine-wexner-medical-center-employees-reduce-stress-through-art/
No generative AI was used in writing this article.
