HELENA — A new partnership between Benefis Health System and the Holter Museum of Art provides patients with a creative and emotional outlet.
"Hospitals can be kind of scary, and I think it's going to bring more color and light into a little bit of darkness," said Cassie Hughes, a Benefis Health Specialty Clinic registered nurse.
The Holter brought color into Benefis with an Art Cart, a large toolbox full of puzzles, markers, crayons, coloring pages, and more.
The Art Cart for Benefis is located in its infusion suite, which primarily sees cancer patients.
Hughes said, "Some patients are here for a very long time, sometimes six hours, and they can only sit in these chairs and look out the window for so long before they get bored."
The Art Carts not only cure boredom but also help patients express their emotions while undergoing treatment.
The education director of the Holter, Anna Lund, has seen it firsthand: "Art can show us someone else's experience. It can offer that empathy of being able to see what is every day for someone else. It can also offer us healing through being able to convey."
The Benefis Art Cart is one of four Holter has made; the other three are at St. Peter's Health.
The carts are part of the Holter Healing Arts program, which has served thousands of people over the last ten years.
