AUSTIN, Texas (June 7,2007) - When the world-class Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas officially opens in early July of 2007, the staff of pediatric specialists will have at their fingertips the very latest in modern medical technology. At the same time, they'll rely on the healing power of more than 700 paintings, photographs, sculptures and other works of art.
Before the earliest blueprints, before a single shovelful of dirt was moved, there was a commitment by the designers of Dell Children's to a visionary philosophy which embraces the power of art as part of the healing process. Several landmark studies have confirmed a powerful connection between a patient's physical environment--even something as basic as a room with a view-and the patient's physical and spiritual well-being.
Erik Pronske, MD, has a unique perspective on art and healing. He's a practicing anesthesiologist who will be making the move from Children's Hospital of Austin to the new facility. But, Dr. Pronske is also an accomplished photographer whose work has been chosen for display at Dell Children's. "My work focuses primarily on nature, which I have found through experience, has a definitely positive clinical impact. My ability to extend my role in the healing process beyond clinical medicine to art is a very humbling experience."
Some of the art soon to be featured at Dell Children's is produced by world-renowned artists, including Bolivia's Graciella Boulanger and New York City's George Rhoades as well as both local and state-wide artists like Fidencio Duran, Deborah Mersky, Baseera Khan and Scott Reed.
Robert Bonar, president and CEO of Children's Hospital and Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, is passionate about the facility's commitment to art. "By providing a nurturing setting-whether it's a piece of artwork, or a courtyard, or some other symbol-we're able to use these surroundings to focus on the totality of a young person, their health, their bodies, their spirit."
A stroll through the Dell Children's campus has been described by designers, landscapers and artists as "breathtaking." Dell Children's features a three-acre, multi-level Healing Garden complete with a labyrinth, human sundial, reflecting pond and bridge as well as self-contained eco-systems, each corresponding to a distinct area of the 46-county region that Dell Children's will serve.
One landmark study confirming the environment-healing
connection was published in April, 1984 in the journal Science.
In that study, patients staying in rooms with windows that
looked out on vegetation or water fared better than patients
whose rooms overlooked an urban environment, or had no window
at all. Subsequent articles published in the Journal of the
American Medical Association (JAMA) in 1998 and 1999 confirm
the healing power of art.