NORFOLK, Va. — Wendy Goldberg watched music and art therapy change her son Ben’s cancer experience. Now, new research aims to prove what she already knows — that healing goes beyond clinical treatment.
Ben was diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer and treated at CHKD in Norfolk and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. It was there he discovered meditation and dance movement therapy.
“It was the times during the music therapy and the meditation that were brought into our treatment rooms that really changed the story for us,” Goldberg said.
Goldberg said the effects were visible in real time.
“Ben was calmer, the caregivers were calmer, but I also saw it in the staff. It really made the day go better, it made the treatment go better, and you could see it in the numbers on the monitor as well,” Goldberg said.
After Ben passed away, Goldberg looked for ways to help other kids find the same peace. She helped create the Benjamin Goldberg Foundation and the Benjamin Goldberg Playroom at CHKD.
“These therapies, they did not change the outcome for us, but they did change our story,” Goldberg said.
“We can’t always cure all the cancers, but we can give people a better experience when they’re going through it,” she said.
Now, Sentara Health researcher Jennifer May is studying whether music and art therapy can improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.
“Treatment and therapy isn’t just clinical,” May said.
With grant funding, Sentara has partnered with the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Virginia Beach, Tidewater Music Therapy in Yorktown, and the Brock Cancer Center.
May described one approach to the research.
“We’re listening to the patient and saying, OK, well I’m going to prescribe that you go to the museum twice a month and spend some time there looking at the art,” May said.
Patients are encouraged to pick which artistic medium they sign up for.
The team will track participants three months before, during, and three months after the program to see if their anxiety and healthcare visits go down.
“I would love to be able to broaden our programs here at Sentara [and] potentially use this data and the results to help insurance companies see the importance of reimbursement for these types of non-traditional therapies,” May said.
This year, the Bejamin Goldberg Foundation launched the Hampton Roads Healing Arts Community Fund, which helps reimburse pediatric cancer patients for therapies often not covered by insurance.
For adults interested in enrolling in the study, talk to your Sentara provider. It is for people 18 and older.
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