These activities help patients and families as they grieve, recuperate and celebrate life says Nicole Molinaro, acting volunteer chairperson, Healing Power of the Arts Program. The program which was established in 1993 and is staffed by volunteers, also assists the medical staff, helping them to feel nurtured and refreshed as they care for patients and families with cancer, according to Ms. Molinaro. Through the Healing Power of the Arts program, patients, families and staff have the opportunity to explore and better understand the relationship between their body and their emotional and spiritual self, says Ms. Molinaro. The program really makes a difference. As far back as 1888, Florence Nightingale testified to the healing power of the arts.
People say the effect is only on the mind.
It is no such thing. The effect is on the body, too. Variety of form and brilliancy of color in the objects presented to patients are actual means of recovery. N.C. A study on post-operative patients at Duke who viewed, from their hospital room, a green contoured landscape and blue sky recuperated faster than those who viewed a brick wall. In his studies of music therapy at Duquesne University he found that philosophers such as Aristotle have attributed therapeutic healing powers to music and arts.