THE ARTS IN MEDICINE PROGRAM (AIM)
Young cancer patients must face extraordinary challenges. When a child is diagnosed with cancer, life changes dramatically, and unfortunately, much of the fun of being a child is lost. But even when a hospital becomes a second home and playtime is replaced by surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, a child’s imagination never ceases to develop. As part of its mission of providing comprehensive care in a child-centered environment, Texas Children's Cancer Center and Hematology Service® established the Arts in Medicine Program (AIM) in 1997 to provide enjoyable, educational and meaningful artistic opportunities to patients and their families.
Serious illness such as cancer brings forth suffering not only in the body, but also in the mind and spirit. Often children lack the cognitive coping skills necessary to fully understand the healing intent behind the tests, needles and medicines; unable to process their emotions on their own, children may suffer emotionally as well as physically. There is clear evidence that a patient's physical wellbeing is fundamentally linked to their emotional and spiritual wellbeing—and that the expressive arts can play a decisive role in promoting a patient’s overall health. In addition, research indicates that simply the act of creating art, using any medium—visual arts, dance, music or writing—influences brain waves and chemicals, both of which have been implicated in healing. The AIM Program allows patients and loved ones to engage in creative, group activities within the physical limitations imposed by their illness and, through the creative process, to learn to cope with the emotional stress and trauma associated with their disease and its treatment.
The key components of the AIM Program include art education, a guest and performing artist series and outreach on a local, regional and national basis. A full-time program coordinator who holds degrees in psychology, dance and recreational therapy leads the AIM Program. The program includes a volunteer force of local artists who donate their time and talent to engaging children in a variety of creative activities. With professional instruction and guidance, the AIM Program empowers young patients to see themselves as active partners in the work of getting well, not just passive patients who can only take medicine and wait. The AIM Program provides art opportunities in a variety of settings including inpatient and outpatient care areas.
The AIM Program is part of the Cancer Center’s Supportive Care Program, a multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary psychosocial program, which provides patients and their families with optimal social, emotional and psychological resources. This program is aimed at offering strong support for patients and their families throughout the course of treatment by providing a variety of needed services including social services, child life, an adolescent and teen program, patient and family education and counseling.
A successful, innovative support service, the AIM Program exposes young minds to the arts, and through creative process, unlocks the artistic, expressive instincts and talents that reside in every child. The AIM Program exemplifies how the Cancer Center goes beyond the disease-focused approach to address the needs of the whole child. The Cancer Center’s goal is to not only cure each child who is ill, but also provide the necessary psychosocial support so that patients can live life as normally as possible during and after treatment.
Home to some of the top minds in pediatric oncology/hematology, the Cancer Center is the nation’s largest center of its kind, sees more than 1,600 new patients with cancer and blood disorders and conducts more than 25,000 outpatient visits each year. The Cancer Center is backed by the strength of Texas Children's Hospital. Established in 1954, Texas Children’s is today licensed for 639 beds with 465 beds in operation. Texas Children’s is the largest freestanding pediatric facility in the United States, is consistently ranked as one of the best children’s hospitals in the nation and is the primary pediatric teaching facility for Baylor College of Medicine.
