While today’s medicine is guided by science and technology, the Medical City realizes the positive impact of visual arts on health and wellness management. Thus, it recently opened a new attraction at the Wellness and Aesthetics Institute, “The Art of Healing.”
It is art shaped by care and compassion, created out of a partnership among patients and doctors, nurses, and staff. It is art that knows no boundaries, as the hospital management and staff tend to the health continuum, particularly those who want to avoid the ravages of ill health and seek to maintain their peak physical condition.
Dr. Christian Flores, director of the Medical City’s Wellness and Aesthetics Institute, explains how the facility helps people, especially now that the idea of art as medicine is drawing increasing interest in the medical community. “Whenever you stop by and visit our wellness center, it’s a full experience,” he says. “It is designed to cater to the needs of everyone for better health and total wellness. It makes healing feel good, positive and uplifting.”
In keeping with the quest to heal not just individuals, but communities as well, “The Art of Healing” aims to raise funds for indigent patients under the Akbay Ginhawa Foundation, Inc. and the community of artists in Baguio City through noted sculptor Bumbo Villanueva.
Akbay Ginhawa aims to provide material and psychosocial support to indigent patients through the Medical City’s Divine Mercy charity program. It also seeks to support the hospital’s public health-directed clinical programs and help link the Medical City with communities in need of health services.
This is why the hospital’s Wellness and Aesthetics Institute team wasted no time going to Baguio to collect the participating artists’ works.
The number of those who joined the exhibit jumped from the planned 15 to 23. Their varied sculptures and paintings, approached in traditional and modern ways, are mostly inspired by the rich culture of the Cordillera.
The exhibit not only showcases local talent. It also helps the Baguio artist community, composed of resident artists of Tam-Awan Village and other artists. They have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, given the numerous lockdowns, which prevented people from appreciating—and purchasing—their works of art.
But artistry is one thing the lockdown can’t put down. Villanueva says creativity is still the art community’s main tool in addressing the problem.
The problem has many sides to it. And well-being is one of them. This is where art comes in.
Villanueva has seen how art has helped the differently-abled, clinically depressed, children in conflict with the law, theologians, cancer patients, doctors and others.
“Part of their therapy is making them open up and channel `unfortunate’ experiences through art. What seems impossible to express verbally or in writing can be conveyed through visual arts. We are praying that the talents shown in this endeavor will help heal the viewing public, especially patients and doctors of Medical City, plus the artists as well, for the glory of the greatest Artist, our Creator.”
Thus, by bringing their works down from the mountains of Benguet into its halls, the Medical City hopes to start the process of healing for their patients, visitors, and staff, as it lends a helping hand to these talented artists. Each work reflects a culture unique to artists living in the mountainous north, combining the indigenous people’s proud traditions with today’s diverse influences. Through this venue at the Medical City, you will experience art that heals the body as well as the soul.
As Dr. Irene Quinio, Akbay Ginhawa executive director says, “This is why we are happy and proud to feature these great artists and their art as addition to the healing environment of the Medical City’s Wellness and Aesthetics Center. We want to redefine your wellness experience through art. We want to turn your regular checkup into something more, something beautiful for the benefit of society.”
“The Art of Healing” is open at the Well ness and Aesthetics Institute, 6F Podium Tower, The Medical City in Ortigas, Pasig City. (632) 8988-1000 ext. 6579 and 6386.