Nurses at the Atheneum

Two faculty members in the Division of Nursing are making good use of the University's corporate membership in the Wadsworth Atheneum. Eleanor Chester, assistant professor, and Karen Lucas Breda, associate professor, are taking registered nurses in the RN-to-BSN program to the Atheneum as part of a nursing course focusing on families and culture.

The innovative program gives students a chance to see images of family in art. These images, according to Chester, help her students to see the different concepts of the family through the ages. Breda says an underlying goal of the program is to make art a part of the students' lives and to stimulate their interest in the humanities. "We want them to learn how to integrate art into their lives in such a way that helps them to become better practitioners," she says.

The students are practicing professional nurses who work in emergency rooms, intensive care units, and other settings where they face tragedy and suffering daily. Art, as a mechanism for using the "right brain," can help them process some of these devastating events, while helping patients and families to do the same, according to Breda.

On February 1, 30 students and faculty joined the staff of the Martin Office of Museum Education for a tour of the Atheneum's renowned collections and exhibitions. They visited the G. Fox Costume Gallery to see an "Images of Childhood" exhibition with mannequins dressed in children's clothes of the 19th century, a time when children were considered little adults.

They also viewed an Armstrong painting (1867) of a woman and child that showed, through color, light, and posture, the strict authority of the adult. Diego Rivera's "Girl with Mask" (1939) stimulated a lively discussion of cultural differences. Milton Avery's "Husband and Wife" (1945) was seen as an example of how an artist can portray the feelings of a couple by use of color and body language.

"This kind of experience gives me a broader outlook on the patient/family as a unit -- when caring for the patient, we are also caring for the family," one of the students commented. "It helps remind me that family dynamics are a product of many influences."

This is the second year that the president Walter Harrison has arranged with the Atheneum a corporate membership for the University that allows all students, faculty, and staff with a UofH ID to visit the museum free of charge.