Imagine a young child battling cancer, spending long periods of time in a hospital, having to endure an exhausting regimen of tests and treatment. For a child, the comprehensive treatment required to fight the disease can be frightening and have a tremendous psychological impact, especially when subjected to long periods of isolation from school and friends.
“Children need an escape; an outlet to help them cope with an unfortunate and challenging circumstance for which they have little or no control,” said Diane Mifsud, executive director of Project Imagine, a Las Vegas-based, nonprofit arts in medicine program. “Igniting creativity offers children battling life-threatening diseases an opportunity to use artistic self-expression to reduce stress, increase self-esteem and achieve insight. It’s often a transformative experience for both the child and his or her family.”
Mifsud, an artist for more than 20 years, is passionate about the work of Project Imagine. For six years, she, along with a collection of equally committed local artists, have provided one-on-one and group art and music enrichment sessions to hundreds of patients at Sunrise Children’s Hospital and other facilities throughout Southern Nevada.
“We are facilitators that introduce children to visual art, such a drawing, painting and sculpting, as well as creative writing, poetry and music,” said Mifsud. “As children begin to express themselves and we get to know them, we tailor sessions based on their individual interests. This helps them grow creatively and process their feelings in a new and imaginative way.”
In describing a typical patient introduction, a visit from a Project Imagine artist involves an artist who enters a patient’s hospital room with an array of art materials and an invitation to share, instead of pills, needles or testing equipment children frequently encounter. “For many young patients the first visit can be instantly comforting,” said Mifsud. “For some, particularly teenagers who cope differently than younger children, it can be more challenging to get them to open up. They sometimes decline to participate at first, but we still welcome them to join at any time, and many do.”
Regardless of whether the first encounter leads to an artistic expression, it can begin a meaningful link to life outside the hospital and provide the child a new way to process their hospital experience. For many patients, the newly discovered creativity continues beyond their time in the hospital and is used to cope with difficulties confronted in the future.
Dr. Jonathan Bernstein, a Las Vegas pediatric hematologist-oncologist, sees tremendous benefits for both the patient and their families. “Many children can’t verbalize their feelings. The art in medicine program offered by Project Imagine helps patients showcase what they’re feeling in other ways,” said Bernstein. “The expressed creativity, whether is a drawing, painting, poetry or story, it allows caregivers to see into the patient’s mind, which can open doors to helping them cope with the stress of their medical treatment.”
“Patients aren’t the only ones that benefit,” said Bernstein. “Creative art projects can involve siblings who often suffer from the stress cancer treatment can have on an entire family. It also keeps them occupied when they are present with the family for long appointments or hospital stays.”
Much of what Project Imagine offers is modeled after other well-established arts and medicine programs in communities across the country, such as University of Florida Health Shands Hospital. The idea of art as medicine dates back centuries, but began to gain prominence in the United States in the 1980s, with increased interest from the medical and scientific community. Many medical schools and hospitals like University of Florida Health have embraced the therapeutic benefits of creative engagement and expression and have created arts in medicine and art therapy programs to help youth, adolescent and adult patients cope with their illnesses.
“I’m greatly inspired by the work at Shands,” said Mifsud. “I’ve had the opportunity to visit their program and bring back ideas to Project Imagine to help us better serve patients.”
With the support of donors and partners in the community, Mifsud’s vision is to expand Project Imagine’s arts in medicine program in Southern Nevada. “Donors support our artists’ time, art materials and the development of leave behind resources so patients can continue their creative work,” said Mifsud. “All of this contributes to transforming young patients from passive victims of a frightening disease into engaged and active partners in helping them heal.”