Kaitlin Hao
August 4, 2016, 10:00 A.M.
Art for Recovery Program at UCSF Hospital at Mission Bay
Cindy Perlis
Since my last blog post, Art for Recovery has given us much more opportunities and direct responsibilities. Our organization seems to really trust us now that we have shown our dedication and hard work with the Heart Project and Firefly Project. Sophia and I are in charge of cataloguing patients art, and now participate in art workshops for outpatients, who are discharged cancer patients returning for subsequent treatments and emotional support. We finally got to experience the direct interaction that we initially thought was missing from our PACT. Initially, I thought that the workshop would be almost like a therapy session, where heavy subjects such as illness and mortality would be discussed, since these workshops could be considered as a form of emotional therapy. Instead, much of the workshop consisted of cheerful chatter about random subjects while everyone worked on lighthearted art activities. Many patients asked me to talk about myself instead of talking about themselves, which shocked me. I initially intended just to listen to whatever they had to say, in fear that I would say the wrong thing. They seemed to love hearing about silly teenage trends or what colleges I was applying to. Perhaps they thought it was refreshing having two silly teenagers sitting at a table that was otherwise filled with middle-aged women patients. Later, Cindy told us what illnesses our new friends were afflicted with, which ranged from ovarian cancer to brain tumors. Although saddened by the severity of their illnesses, I tried not to let this new knowledge change the way I interacted with the ladies. I’ve learned that one of the best ways to interact with patients is to be aware of my words and not overstep my boundaries, but talk to them and joke with them like they are regular people.
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