Photo: Jooney Woodward | The Observer
It was June 2019 when Mina Holland first saw Snow Fox, a ward for regular pediatric outpatients at Evelina London Children's Hospital. Her three-month-old daughter had been admitted to their local hospital three weeks earlier and it was depressing to be in a ward whose bare walls bore peeling paint. But at Snow Fox, with its warm lighting, bright colors and upbeat design, Mina felt calm and confidence. Bringing this kind of empathy is the point, agrees Louisa Williams, who set up Art In Site in 2003. "We talk about the building being part of the care team, and art and design as an extension of the bedside manner..." Art In Site was commissioned by Liz O'Sullivan, arts manager for the Guy's and St Thomas' Trust. "Kindness sits at the center of it all, and the uplift it brings carries a greater value than the price tag," she says. While some of their hardest moments have been spent in Snow Fox, "It's no longer the place that causes her pain but the place that keeps her well -- and our family in one piece," Holland says.
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