Montreal Children’s Hospital gets new ‘healing’ murals

The Montreal Children's Hospital has installed a 'healing art project' to make waiting in the ER a little more comfortable for families.

The Montreal Children’s Hospital has installed a “healing art project” to make waiting hours a bit more comfortable for patients and their families.

Inside the emergency department waiting room at any hospital can be a tough place to spend a lot of time. Emma Corbett, 11, knows this and says the new “interactive imagery” on the walls is a good distraction from the long wait.

“When I used to come to the emergency room, when I was sick, I would have nothing to do. I was always, like, really bored, but now I have these games I could play,” says Emma.

These multi-coloured murals all around the waiting rooms also give parents some comfort.

“It’s stressful as a parent when you’re waiting here in the emergency room,” said Emma’s mom, Cari Friedman.

“So now that you have these beautiful interactive walls it gives Emma a place to just wait calmly.”

Renee Vezina is the President of The Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation and she says this “smart art” is a first in Canada. There are quizzes and clues embedded in the murals in the Montreal imagery. Plus, QR codes link little players to an app so they can join a quest and even post their art on the video-wall in the waiting room.

Vezina adds, “their art, showing on the screen behind me. And there can be several, several patients working on art and showing off their art.”

Valerie Frost guided this project for the Foundation and wants there to be some learning along the way.

“The kids can use the app on their own. parents can look at the murals with their kids, point out things. we tried to create a bit of educational components to it,” she said.

The private donor who made these “Wonderscapes” possible is J. Sebastian van Berkom, who remembers many long waits years ago with his daughter Melanie. He wanted to change that experience for others.

“It’s very impactful. Impactful for kids, impactful for the staff at the at the hospital ... Everything becomes more relaxed,” he says.

Dr. Laurie Plotnick, an emergency pediatrician, says that calm continues into the examination room.

“They’re less stressed, less anxious, and it makes it easier on the family, usually on the child, and certainly allows the nurses and the physicians to do what we do best, which is care for them,” she says.

Caring for more than the 70,000 patients who come through this waiting room every year beings at the front door.