Our Brain Body and Behaviour Academy, along with Artists and Researchers from Sunderland University and James Cook University Hospital are currently evaluating the impact of a garden designed to speed the recovery of critical care patients.
The garden was created by artist, designer, researcher and Wolfson Fellow Dr Laura Johnston who worked with NHS staff to develop the design.
Along with plants, the garden incorporates beautiful materials and sculptures with the aim of creating a sensory space, in contrast with the harsh clinical environment of critical care. The Garden has been used by patients to celebreate birthdays, act as a break out space and even as a wedding venue. Laura has recently established Healing Spaces, a community interest company, dedicated to positively transforming healthcare spaces. She is also co-founder of Durham University’s Enlighten Project, together with Professor Paul Chazot, Professor of Pharmacology.
Patients have said
“I was so absorbed in my environment, looking across from my bed at people on ventilators, that’s what I was doing all day, I wasn’t thinking about anything normal. You were very clinically involved on the ward, because there were people who were very very poorly that you were looking at, the nurses were very busy. The garden was a touch of normality.”
“It wasn’t just about me it was about my family too. We’ve all been on a very long, hard, emotional journey and the garden benefitted all of us really.”
“It brought a bit of colour back to my face as well [being outside] and made me think, there is life still going on.”
“I class that [going to the garden] as the turning point in my improvement, and my moving on. It was the next day the moved me from intensive care down onto one of the other wards, to start getting rehabilitated.”
“It gave me hope and determination that I can do this, I can move on, get better.”
“I thought it was so peaceful and beautiful, away from the clinical environment, it was so lovely.”
“My family laughed and smiled in the garden.”
'Enlighten Critical care from the outside: one year on' is at Durham Botanic Gardens on Thursday 9 November from 1pm to 3pm, as is part of the 2023 Festival of Social Sciences. The research project will be presented at the event where the public and NHS staff can meet Prof Paul Chazot and Dr Laura Johnston, gain insight into life in critical care, learn about the design process and the role of social science in the evaluation of this therapeutic space.
For more details about this event please visit https://www.dur.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/wolfson/about-us/events/enlighten-critical-care-from-the-outside-one-year-on/
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