Residencies

The Charity funds a number of residencies as part of the Performing Arts programme. Artists are invited to work with specific patient groups over a concentrated period of time, with the aim of providing a more holistic approach to healthcare.

Projects range from poetry and storytelling to music and dance, taking into account the particular needs of those taking part. Patients from all three hospitals have taken part, as well as those being treated in Lambeth and Southwark's community services.

• Poetry Parlour
• Dialysis storytelling
• Living Words

Poetry Parlour

On the last Friday of every month, poet Paul Sherreard spends the morning visiting inpatient and outpatient areas around the Trust, performing poetry and holding workshops with patients.

These sessions are followed by a free lunchtime poetry workshop open to patients, staff and visitors, at the Knowledge and Information Centre (KIC) at St Thomas’, from 12-2pm.

Each month has a different theme and provides the opportunity for people to have a fun and creative experience during their lunch hour.

Dialysis treatment turns a new page through story-telling

Three days a week, Dennis Gander takes the bus to New Cross, where he passes four long hours on dialysis.

Dennis’s visits took on a new vitality thanks to a story-telling project which alleviated his boredom and helped him develop new friends among fellow patients.

Dr Vayu Naidu, a professional story teller, visited the Unit - part of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust - several times a week, getting to know patients and telling them her stories.

Over time Vayu gained people’s trust and they began to share their anecdotes, and these were recorded for posterity. Are you coming back? A Storytelling Memoir was created by sound designer Paul Wetton as an audio archive of tales from of a diverse mix of people brought together by a common medical problem.

You can listen to some of the stories by clicking on the links below:

	Brian's story
	Dennis' story
	Yakub's story

“The people I met in the Unit are unsung heroes – they spend up to five days a week in the Centre, resigned to being plugged into machines, which will ultimately keep them alive. These stories are a memory of their history, and shows them not as victims, but as individuals with a soaring imagination,” Vayu explained.

Some recounted London in the Blitz; others coming to London from abroad to study. There were stories entwined with the professional lives that some have had to leave behind, ranging from vicars to chemical engineers.

Yvonne Farquharson, Performing Arts Manager for the Charity said: “We were delighted that Vayu wanted to work with people coming for kidney dialysis. It has enriched their lives; given them something positive from their treatment; as well as helping them to feel more connected with each other. “

Living Words

Actress and writer Susanna Howard undertook a residency on Anne Ward in the Elderly Care Unit at St Thomas’ ,where she visited people suffering from dementia and asked them to share their memories with her.

She carefully recorded their stories and made them into books, the intimate conversations serving as a valuable record of the person’s life.

A summary was also made available to carers and nursing staff to complement medical notes and help them interact more meaningfully with patients.

Even after the residency, the ward is reported to be a completely different place: patients are much calmer and staff have a better understanding of the patients suffering from delirium and dementia symptoms.

Susanna continued her residency at care homes in a local Primary Care Trust, supported by the Charity.