Art of Medicine
Nov 2020
Abstract
Benches are a metaphor for a shared place of rest and reflection for patients and their loved ones as well as for physicians and other health care clinicians. The Healing Bench artwork thus represents the collective unity of communal decision making and reflections, as clinicians deliver compassionate patient care from bench to bedside.
Figure. The Healing Bench, 2020
Media
Photography and watercolor painting.
Caption
The metaphorical bench symbolizes a shared place of rest and reflection for patients and their loved ones as well as for physicians and other health care clinicians. In these thematic photographs and a watercolor painting, the motif of benches as spaces for viewing in diverse settings—where one can immerse oneself in nature or overlook a city’s skyline and harbor—draws attention to the invitation to reflection in any destination, wherever one is located.
This collaborative work of art additionally illuminates a shared moment between an elderly couple captured in loving embrace at a bench in the hospital’s garden, where they also embrace their last days together. It is in these shared areas of rest among nature that the limited time of patients and their loved ones stands still and where they share their last memories together. The bench is also where physicians and health care clinicians can rest and reflect upon the shared decision-making space, as they work with their patients to provide optimal care. From enhancing quality of life to alleviating pain and suffering, reflections at the shared bench represent the resilient bond among physicians, patients, and their loved ones. The Healing Bench artwork thus represents the collective unity of communal decision making and reflections, as clinicians deliver compassionate patient care from bench to bedside.
