I spent one evening in conversation with a woman from Lebanon and a woman from Iraq at the bedside of a daughter sharing stories about our lives as we waited for her to regain consciousness. I also read to patients. I have had the pleasure of introducing contemporary poets to patients as they contemplate or discuss poems I read or write on whiteboards in waiting rooms. Staff, patients, and visitors have been extremely supportive of the programme. Patients say they look forward to our visits, that the activities allow them to forget themselves for awhile.
Staff find it enlivens the wards and lifts their spirits.
Patients who return to the hospital for treatment on a regular basis now look forward to working with the artists. Several people in Medical Outpatients have written poems while receiving treatment. We are only beginning to discover all the possibilities for art in this setting. We are just starting to put poetry on meal trays and to produce anthologies of the poems patients have written. The possibilities for artists on the wards are limited only by our imaginations.