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Posts Tagged ‘nhs’

2020-04-15-coronavirus-veteran

Photo: Peter Cziborra/Reuters
Tom Moore, 99, a retired British army captain, walks to raise money for health workers in the pandemic. His initial goal was to walk the length of his garden 100 times before his 100th birthday April 30. He did it and is still going strong.

Public Radio International  (PRI) is a wonderful service. It covers stories from around the world with greater depth than most egocentric US outlets. Sometimes PRI’s stories take off, like this one, which you may have already heard from another news source.

It’s about 99-year-old World War II veteran Captain Tom Moore, who feels deep gratitude to the health-care workers who looked after him in previous illnesses and made up his mind to help them during a pandemic that puts them at risk.

From PRI on Instagram: “He did it! Today, 99-year-old World War II veteran Captain Tom Moore achieved the goal he set up for himself earlier this month: to walk the length of his back garden 100 times before his 100th birthday on April 30.

“But Captain Moore didn’t walk just for recreation. He was also raising money for Britain’s national health service (NHS), now strained because of the coronavirus pandemic. He raised an astonishing 16 million GBP, or nearly $20 million — way above his initial fundraising goal of 1,000 GBP, or $1,200.

“Moore said he wanted to thank NHS workers for the care he received while recovering from skin cancer and a broken hip.

‘The patience and the kindness that I’ve got from all of them from top to bottom was absolutely amazing. So, anybody who is helping with me and the National Health Service, I’d be very pleased, because they’ve done so well for me and they’re doing so well for everybody else at the moment,’ Captain Moore said. ‘I think we must say “Well done, National Health Service.” ‘ “

Listen online to the PRI story, here. And do make PRI part of your ongoing routine. Yesterday alone it had a slew of intriguing topics, and its presentation of international music is as good as I’ve heard anywhere:

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It’s amazing how much the arts can help people.

I have blogged about programs that use the arts to turn convicts toward something positive, to build up the self-worth of the homeless, to turn Brazilian slums into more hopeful places. The list goes on.

Recently ArtsJournal.com alerted me to a BBC story on an arts initiative that helps veterans reacclimate to civilian life.

“Many veterans are turning to charities for help. One is using the unlikely weapon of art to help fight the psychological wounds of war, while another organisation is actively encouraging artwork in the army. Outside of the [national health service] the charity Combat Stress is the biggest provider of support to armed forces veterans with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety.

“Art therapy is one of the treatments it uses. Drawing, sculpting and painting are helping patients manage their symptoms with great success.

” ‘Traumatic memories take a different path from our normal memories and tend to be frozen in the body in the central nervous system,’ explains Janice Lobban, who has been a trauma therapist at Combat Stress for the past 10 years. …

“Group sessions typically begin with the therapist giving a one or two word brief to inspire creativity before veterans are given a selection of materials for painting, modelling or writing. After 45 minutes of quick work, the group then get together to talk about and describe what they’ve just created.

” ‘I try to keep a blank mind and just let images and feelings rise out from my unconscious to my hand and things start appearing,’ says Richard Kidgell … who served in the Royal Air Force from 1978 to 1985. ‘What surprises me is that while I’m drawing I don’t know what it is — they’re just images, but by the end of the session I’ve made a complete story. It’s quite enlightening as sometimes I’m not entirely sure what I’ve drawn until I speak to others about it.’ ”

Read more of Genevieve Hassan’s story on arts therapy for veterans here.

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