The Osler Literary Roundtable brings literature fans together weekly to discuss prose and poetry. The annual art show gives employees opportunity to display their paintings, crafts, drawings and other works. Work with patients also took off. One project has bone marrow transplant patients keep a journal of their time at the hospital. Others work with pediatric patients to help them express themselves and their concerns through art.
Musicians bring music to patients' rooms.
The effect of arts on patient healing is a difficult one to access, but Palmer says there are signs that the positive influence does exist. She cites one study done using college students. The students were given portraits of people's faces and then asked their perceptions of the people in the photographs. One group of students were placed in an aesthetically pleasing room, another in an ugly room and a third in a neutral one. I think it's an interesting study because it makes the direct connection between art and our inner emotions.