Paediatric ICU' closes a cycle and begins the period of expansion to hospitals throughout Spain.

At the event 'Culture that heals', which took place on 1 June at CaixaForum Madrid, the results and balance of the project were presented, which seeks to improve the emotional care of paediatric patients through a podcast, a mobile library (cuidateca) and the illustrated story 'Hospitalario'.

Paediatric ICU, one of the four pilot projects with which Concomitentes lands in Spain in 2018, closes its cycle and begins a period of expansion to hospitals all over Spain, following the celebration of the event ‘Culture that heals’, the past 1 June at CaixaForum Madrid. The meeting was attended by almost 70 people, including collaborators close to the project and different people related to the world of culture and health.

The project is the result of a mediation process led by Felipe G. Gil of ZEMOS98, and five nurses from the Paediatric ICU of the Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria in Tenerife, -Quique Chinea, Laura León, Ruymán Miranda, Lili Quintero and Seve Torres-, and has worked to improve the emotional care of paediatric patients through the tools provided by art and culture: “This experience has been a journey in which we have had to dig tunnels to connect two worlds that a priori were not: the health and the cultural. Our work has consisted of weaving a common code so that the result is an artistic project that is truly useful in a paediatric ICU”, explains the project mediator. 

Three artistic works have emerged from this common path: The illustrated story ‘Hospitaller’.’ created by El Hematocrítico and illustrated by the Canarian artist, Cynthia Hierro; a mobile library, ‘La cuidateca’, designed and built by the Canarian architect, Artemi Hernández, of the Civic Information Office (OFIC); and a podcast ‘In the Paediatric ICU’.’, directed by journalist Elena Cabrera, which tells the stories of patients and their families, and whose five-episode season is published on all platforms.

For his part, the nurse Quique Chinea, The key to this project is to provide the children with a tool to help them alleviate the shortcomings that may appear when facing hospital admission, any artistic and non-academic intervention will be beneficial to help them improve their emotional state,“ he explains of his experience with the Paediatric ICU.

The event was attended by the mediator, Felipe G. Gil, He was accompanied by Pepa Octavio, head of the ‘Citizen Art’ programme of the Carasso Foundation; three of the members of the group of commissioning nurses (Ruymán Miranda, Quique Chinea and Lili Quintero); and the three artists, The Hematocritic, Elena Cabrera, Artemi Hernández.

The conclusions of the project were also presented through the book ‘....‘Hospitality against the odds’which was co-published last March with Editorial Bartlebooth, which traces lines of escape to think about health as a common good and at the same time collects the learnings accumulated by the working group since 2018. The meeting also featured the voices of three of the authors: Sabina Urraca, Ethel Baraona and Noemí López Trujillo.

If you were not able to join us here is the full video stream of the event.

See the full photo gallery of the event here.

See the photo gallery of the complete project here.