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Circle Of
Care, a WHYY original documentary and series of short
segments, visits area hospitals, rehabilitation centers
and adult residential communities to intimately witness
the process of expressing and communicating through music,
dance, painting, theater and poetry. Here are those
remarkable stories:
Videos require Quicktime
 Dance and Disability
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At the HMS School
for Children with Cerebral Palsy, dance therapist
Rachel Morales helps students use dance and movement to
communicate. Children come alive and vibrant in dance
class, working muscles, relieving stress and doing things
that other children might do. Through dance performance,
doctors find that they can better understand their patients
both physically and emotionally, and see the whole person
rather than just the disability.
Music and Pain Management
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Paul
Nolan, faculty in music therapy at Hahnemann
Creative Arts in Therapy Program at the Drexel University
College of Nursing and Health Professions and music therapist
at Hahnemann
University Hospital, explains how patients use musical
improvisation to communicate their experiences with pain,
and sometimes lessen the perception of pain. Paul works
with A. Bruce Gregory, Jr., a patient who suffers from
severe pain caused by sickle cell anemia. Bruce has participated
in music therapy as an inpatient in the hospital, and
now uses music to manage his pain by always carrying a
kalimba and playing it whenever possible.
 Theater and Language
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Aaron
Deede was in a car accident five years ago, which
left him paralyzed from the waist down and cognitively
impaired. He had difficultly speaking and was referred
to the theater
arts class at Magee
Rehabilitation Hospital. Now, Aaron speaks clearly
and communicates even better on stage. Aaron’s mother,
Ann Phillips, and Mari Doran, Director of Speech and Language
at Magee, explain how theater and creative expression
have helped Aaron regain his communication skills.
 Music and Dementia
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For more than 15 years, the staff of Cathedral
Village has been using music to aid in communication
and to recall memories for the pleasure and health of
residents with dementia. The activities
staff and music therapist Lorna “The Music Lady” Glassman
engage the residents in physical as well as mental exercise,
as Lorna connects them to joyful memories through songs
from their past. Watch as they sing, dance and use handheld
instruments to play along with the music.
Art and the Medical Student
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LaToya Floyd is a third year medical student at Drexel
University College of Medicine who has completed the
Medical
Humanities Scholars Certificate Program and has taken
other Humanities and Arts classes offered by the Division
of Medical Humanities to medical students. In the
process, she developed an interest in the use of arts
as a tool for better communication in her relationships
with patients. Although on a crushing schedule that keeps
her in the hospital from 5 a.m. to after 6 p.m., and then
home to study, Floyd is always looking for ways to introduce
art into the lives of patients.
Music and Language
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Music has been used over the past seven years to teach
Noah Kinsley, who has Klinefelter’s disease and speech
and language delays, to communicate. Dena
Condron, a music therapist at the Community
Conservatory in Doylestown, Pennsylvania and of the
Kardon
Institute for Arts Therapy, has been working with
Noah since he was 2 years old, and has been successful
at getting him to communicate using songs and silly sounds.
We see the relationship between Dena and Noah, and hear
from Noah’s mother, Joan, how music has helped Noah develop
language skills.
The Team Approach
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This story looks at treating patients with eating
disorders through a team approach that includes an
art therapist. The team practices at the Belmont
Center for Comprehensive Treatment of the Albert Einstein
Healthcare Network of the Jefferson Health System. Each
week, the art therapist presents a patient’s artwork at
a team meeting with psychiatrists, social workers, therapists
and dieticians. As a team, they discuss what direction
to take with the treatment of the patient by using the
information derived from the art. Many patients who are
unable to communicate their feelings verbally respond
extremely well to therapy using art as a means of expression.
Art and Cancer
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Creating art can help cancer patients understand their
disease and feelings, and communicate them to doctors
and caregivers. Patients participating in the Open Studio
art program at The Wellness
Community of Philadelphia tell us how art has informed
and empowered them to advocate for their care and to increase
their quality of life.
Storytelling
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Robin Frankrich, vice president of St.
Joseph’s Manor of the Holy Redeemer Health System,
wrote a letter to the caregiving staff in the voice of
her mother when her mother was admitted into the Alzheimer’s
Unit. The letter helped the staff understand her mother’s
likes and dislikes, interests and schedule. Robin’s letter
was so popular that St. Joseph’s Manor developed a program
to connect high school students with residents to write
their stories into a book made available to healthcare
professionals.
Writing, Poetry and Doctors
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Dr. Victor Bressler has been organizing a retreat to introduce
caregivers to the power of writing for the past 15 years.
This year at the Atlantic City Convention Center, medical
residents, doctors, patients, writers and artists attended
the conference hosted by Atlanticare,
which focused on empathy in the healthcare experience.
Doctors and poets presented examples of their work, and
spoke about how journaling and writing can help to connect
the human and the scientific elements of healthcare. This
story follows medical students through the conference,
tracking their reactions to the poetry and writings of
working doctors, as well as the writing process.
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