Laughter is the best medicine: How playing can help a child's recovery

Play is often an important part of a child's recovery. We talk to some of the people who help to put a smile on children's faces in Cork University Hospital

Fri, 11 Dec, 2020 - 19:00

Martha Brennan

FROM art cart deliveries and mural commissions to now virtual visits with musicians, the work of Cork University Hospital’s arts and health programme shows that laughter really is the best medicine.

Edelle Nolan is the manager of the programme and says that the trojan work of volunteers and the department’s Kids Club brings endless joy to the children, who also benefit from the work of the hospital’s arts and music therapy programme.

“You want to make it homely and fun and exciting. It’s boring for kids who are there for months, you want to stimulate them,” Edelle says.

“When you’re engaged in creative practices, there's dexterity. You're using your hands and fingers and that links directly to the brain, activating it. In recent years there’s been so much research on creativity and healing. They can now see the brain lighting up with mapping and the part of the brain that’s highlighted during creativity is similar to the part that’s highlighted during meditation, which stimulates the whole body for the healing response.”

Child's best friend

Carmel Keelan, of Irish Therapy Dogs, with her dog Stanley. Carmel is looking forward to the day she can go back to CUH with Stanley to visit the Puffin Ward. Picture: Larry Cummins

One of the children's favourite activities is their weekly visits with Irish Therapy Dog Stanley, who has been visiting CUH for four years now with his owner Carmel Keelan. “It brings so much joy and laughter,” Carmel says. “He performs and they brush him and play with him, it’s very cute. It brings a smile to everyone’s faces.”

Carmel adopted Stanley nine years ago and decided to volunteer for Irish Therapy Dogs when a friend who was involved suggested that the golden retriever would be the perfect fit. "He's got such a great temperament. He loves everybody,” she says. Carmel had to pause her weekly visits in March but is excited for the day when she can bring Stanley back to the Puffin ward.

I was pulling stuff out of a box the other day and pulled out a high-visibility jacket and Stanley got all excited,” she says. “He thought it was his therapy jacket and was getting ready to go in. He misses it.

Carmel says that Stanley not only acts as a source of joy for the children but also as a great distraction when they’re receiving injections or medicine. "He's been a great distraction many times for kids getting medicine who weren't happy about it, they'll watch him instead," she says. "They just absolutely love him, they all know his name. I can't wait until we can go back in."

Tom and Jerry effect

Grainne Hope, Founder of Kids Classics, has continued working with CUH since Covid-19 struck with online workshops. Picture: Dave Keegan

Cellist Grainne Hope also knows a thing or two about distracting children, having founded Kids Classics ten years ago with the aim of bringing music to kids in a fun and interactive way. The organisation has been visiting CUH since 2015.

“I wanted to come off the professional stage and into the hearts of communities and bring music to people it otherwise mightn’t get to,” says Grainne.

The Kids Classics musicians started by playing in the schoolroom and eventually moved right into patient rooms and corridors. “You offer at a distance,” says Grainne. “When you play something on the ward, that’s the invite. Heads might pop out the doors and we might catch a smile.

Music is like the Tom and Jerry effect, it floats down a corridor.

Requests can vary from Paw Patrol to Eminem, so the musicians are always at the ready. They also carry small instruments, like ukuleles, to encourage the children to take part.

“It’s like doing a 360 [degree turn] as a musician,” Grainne says. “We might have someone who likes hip hop or we might be playing nursery rhymes. It’s about their repertoire and connecting with them and them taking ownership. What I love is offering a choice. Sometimes it’s very hard to get a choice in there. It’s lovely to give a bit of autonomy back to a young patient.”

Kids Classics has continued to work with CUH since the pandemic struck, moving their workshops online.

“The children may have been able to come together before but they’re all separated now and it’s an even lonelier journey. We want to do anything we can to create a new memory or break the monotony of treatments. Hopefully, very soon we’ll get back in person.”

Power of engagement

The launch of the Helium Arts Pirate Pack for CUH Arts & Health programme at Cork University Hospital Picture: Denis Minihane.

Helium Arts works with CUH in a similar role, however mostly with outpatients, supporting children with long-term health conditions.

“A lot of them are feeling very lonely, very excluded. We have artists who work with patients while they wait for their appointments so they can take part in some activities, everything from writing poetry to designing tattoos,” says CEO Helene Hugel, who used to be a puppeteer before founding the organisation.

“It creates a lovely relaxed atmosphere because the kids are involved in something while they're waiting. Research has proven that people feel like they’re waiting less when they’re engaged with something.”

As Helium's volunteers can't go into the hospital at the moment, they've started dropping off art packs to children both in and out of the hospital. Before the pandemic, they would also run six-to-eight-week workshops outside of the hospital in locations such as the Bishopstown Library.

“The workshops are a place where children can meet children like themselves, going through similar life experiences, and have fun. We have medics on-site which means that parents can leave their children, sometimes for the first time.”

Room for everyone

Such a parent was Cheralyn Williams, whose seven-year-old son Jack suffers from chronic anaphylactic allergies and found a safe place in one of Helium's workshops prior to Covid-19.

“Jack is very much isolated from the world and protected in a little bubble. Everything has to be safe for him so that automatically excludes him from lots of things, like playdates and creche. From the get-go, I hate using the word excluded, but that is exactly what we felt,” says Cheralyn.

Jack became involved with Helium while waiting for an appointment in CUH. “I was a little hesitant but everything was clean, there was a fresh pot, everyone has got a place. These are the things when you're living in our world that you notice straight away,” Cheralyn says.

However, Cheralyn soon noticed that Jack was very anxious about the whole thing and was reluctant to play with the other kids.

“I knew Jack had anxiety with his allergies and he was very much worried about his environment. He never had the social aspects that my other two children had. But I didn't realise how bad he was," Cheralyn says. "I thought, 'he really needs this.'"

She started to drive to Cork from Tipperary every weekend to bring Jack to Helium’s workshop as she was so blown away by the team.

They called every week to make sure what they had planned was safe, including snacks. Every child used the same soap, paper towels were used instead of hand towels, and everything was sanitised. “It was the smallest of things but it meant that Jack was completely in a safe environment,” Cheralyn says.

“They even [had the kids] come up with their own rules on how they wanted to be greeted which I thought was lovely because Jack doesn't like to touch people. Because if you have a face cream on or perfume or put on a bit of lipstick, rub your lips with lip balm, all of these things can trigger Jack. They took in his insecurities and his boundaries and made it work. It was just fantastic.”

Cheralyn says that since the workshop ended, Jack has become more confident and more independent.

“It wasn’t just Jack sitting there with his emotions and how he felt. Everyone was in the same little boat.”

Jack Williams' beloved mug that he made during a workshop with Helium Arts.

Jack cherishes the clay mug he made in the workshop, which is proudly displayed in the family kitchen. “It's falling apart, there’s more glue on it than there is clay,” Cheralyn laughs. “But it’s what it represents. Jack went to a group, he belonged in this group, and he was safe.”