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Nov 12, 2009 7:57 pm US/Central
Art Program Helps Heal Kids At Fort Worth Hospital
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
While there are a number of cutting edge treatments for diseases underway in North Texas, one local children's hospital is using a new therapy that dates back to the beginning of time.
Outside of Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth you can actually see signs of the medical treatment going on inside. A mural is helping sick children heal with art.
Nine year-old Devin Brooks, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, has spent a good deal of time at Cook Children's. And four year-old Santana Garcia has had a number of surgeries at the medical center and will undergo another procedure on Friday. But today creative arts specialist Shannon Jones provided those two, and other sick children, with an escape.
Jones says while the children can't control what treatments they get, they can color, mold and paint whatever they imagine. "It's to help them gain control and allow them creative expression through art and creativity," she explained.
While diseases can be very painful, parents say the art helps them and the kids feel better.
Santana's father, Andrew Garcia, enjoys seeing his daughter find joy in art therapy. "Any opportunity that we have to put a smile on her face, we take advantage of it," he said. "And the things they have going on here helps us release our pain, not just hers."
The hospital takes pride in the pain free 'treatment' that spawns loads of laughter and smiles for kids like 10-year-old Banks Graham. Banks has sickle cell anemia and has been a patient at Cook's since birth. "It's fun and I like to draw airplanes a lot, and school buses and other stuff I can think of." Banks says creating the art makes him feel "a lot better."
Banks' mother, Edna Guy, appreciates the efforts to keep joy in her son's life. "I really like what they're doing here because he actually likes coming up here," she said.
Art therapists use the colors of the rainbow to brighten the world of young patients who often live vicariously through their artistic creations.
Devin says his volcanoes, cars and planes empower him. He explained what he experiences when he paints the color blue. "It makes me feel like I'm in the water."
Currently there is a 90-yard mural that stands six feet high, outside Cook Children's. The mural hides massive construction taking place behind it and greets patients and visitors, most of who don't know a group of pint-sized Picasso's painted it.
"It's good because you can make things out of stuff that is nothing," Devin said proudly of his work.
Devin's mother, Frances Welch, vouches for the effects she's witnessed during her son's hospital stays. "It's an escape and something to take his mind off why we're here."
Experts at Cook Children's want to remind parents, of any child going through tough times, to remember the healing power of art.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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