Art-in-Healthcare Program Promotes Self-Expression, Healing, and Wellness

Jeremy Amble was always a photography buff. He learned photography techniques as a boy in 4-H, and later put those skills to use working on his high school yearbook.

But when Jeremy suffered a C4 spinal cord injury—one that left him with very limited arm movement and no finger dexterity—he thought he’d never be able to take photographs again.

Then he met Sarah Petto, MFA, the artist-in-residence at UW Hospital and Clinics (UWHC). Through support from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment (PI: David Rakel, MD),Sarah helps patients express themselves through art making.

For Jeremy, that meant picking up a camera again—this time, using adaptive equipment—and re-discovering his love of photography.

Adaptive Photo Setup ‘Like Christmas Morning’

Jeremy had been working as a patient mentor in the UWHC acute rehabilitation unit for several years when he first met Sarah. She asked him if he would research ways that photography equipment could be modified for use by someone with a spinal cord injury.

Jeremy readily agreed, and with advice from a local camera company, began to construct a solution. He found a camera model with a live view screen instead of a traditional viewfinder, a touch screen on the rear that he could press with a mouth stick, and a remote shutter that he could connect to a bite stick to take the picture.

Sarah then helped Jeremy mount the camera onto an tripod head and then on to an articulating arm connected to his wheelchair. Jeremy still has some limited gross-motor control in one hand, making it possible for him to guide the camera into position.

“With help, we put everything together and within a short 30 minutes the whole system was up and running,” Jeremy said.

“It felt like Christmas morning,” he recalled. “My excitement to be able to take pictures again, independently, was and is such an awesome feeling... To be able to capture a moment of my children, a wild deer or turkey, and to be able to express my creative side, is absolutely priceless!”

Jeremy uses an adaptive bite stick attachment to release the camera shutter.

He also uses an adaptive mouth stick to change the camera’s touch-screen settings.

Jeremy’s complete camera setup, mounted on his wheelchair.

Jeremy Amble's Photos

The Role of Art-Making in Healing

Jeremy’s story is just an example of the value of art-making in healing and wellness.

Petto says that for patients who have had an spinal cord injury, or who are undergoing difficult or lengthy medical treatment, the creative process provides valuable redirection. On a deeper level, it also helps them get re-grounded in their own individuality. 

“The common thread among the patients I work with is that no matter what their ‘normal’ was, they want to be back there, but now everything has changed,” she explained.

“When we are sick or injured, a door opens to remind us of what we want to spend our time connecting to and what gives life meaning,” elaborated DFM Associate Professor and UW Health Integrative Medicine Director David Rakel, MD, the principal investigator of the grants funding Petto’s work. “The arts are a powerful way for us to explore this further.”

“Sarah has done amazing work with patients to give them the tools that will help them express this through a camera lens or a paint brush,” he continued. “She realizes that it is often a health event that allows us to connect to this beauty at a deeper level and when she helps others define this, healing happens.”

Creative Self-Expression, in All Its Forms

In addition to acute rehab, Petto also works on the inpatient surgical unit and at the Carbone Cancer Center. Participation is completely voluntary and flexes according to patients’ abilities and interests.

For example, Sarah has several art carts she can bring to the bedside (or chairside, for people who are receiving outpatient treatment). Patients and families can work together to journal, draw, paint, make jewelry, or pursue other creative pursuits.

For patients who have been diagnosed with upper-body paralysis, she introduces the mouthstick for writing, painting, or typing on a computer keyboard. She even helps patients use Skype to communicate with their families.

Recently, Petto has also begun offering art classes in a new resource room in the Carbone Cancer Center on the first floor of UWHC, though she dreams of having a dedicated studio space for patients and their families.

“Creative self-expression promotes healing, wellness, and self-esteem in our patients,” she explained. “It also helps family members feel less anxious and more supported, builds relationships with staff, and adds value to the hospital. It’s all helpful to the recovery process.”