The Bedside Drawing Class is a project to support and promote mental health for children in the hospital. The project was initiated by a group of students from Maya High School.
This is the first project run by students with the Social Work Department of Bach Mai Hospital.
One of the important reasons is that the project is completely different from the form of volunteer art clubs that have been implemented in many pediatric departments. Students aged 13-16 have organized a professional class, with clear lesson plans, output products and really help children with serious illnesses reconnect with the community after a long time in the hospital, the world wrapped up in hours of infusion.
Patient M. learns to draw right in the hallway of the Pediatric Center, Bach Mai Hospital (Photo: Duc Binh).
The paintings were drawn with the needle still in the hand.
M. - 9 years old, sitting in a wheelchair - is a "long-term" patient at the Pediatric Center of Bach Mai Hospital. For 3 months, M. just lay in bed, attached to IVs and needles. But when he heard that there was an art class in the hospital, M. sat up and asked his mother to let him go to class.
On M.'s first day of drawing, the nurses who usually took care of her watched anxiously. Seeing M.'s small, pale hand holding a pencil, slowly and shakily drawing the first strokes under the guidance of the other students, everyone was moved.
Today, M. sat up. And M. was drawing.
Ms. Vu Ngoc Anh Thu - Social Work Department, hospital - shared: "I have witnessed art become a spiritual medicine... When I saw M. holding a brush to draw, I believed more that art can heal. Each painting is hope, strength and revival".
“This is the first time I have participated in a community project and helped children with my own hands. I realized that art is not just for viewing, but also for healing,” said Do Nhu Ngoc, an 8th grader, one of the 12 members participating in the project.
Like Nhu Ngoc, Bach Nguyen Khang - a boy who loves to draw but once thought his passion did not bring any benefit to others - confided: "I never expected that drawing could make children so happy. When I saw them eagerly holding my work in their hands, I felt very grateful. I understood that art not only creates beauty but also brings joy."
When starting to plan the project, Ho Vu Ha Anh - project team leader - identified the most important goal as "using art to soothe and support the mental health of sick children".
But it was only when they were working, standing next to the easel to show the children each stroke and dot of color, that Ha Anh and her friends truly felt the word "soothing". Because the "little teachers" themselves felt that comfort within themselves.
Ho Vu Ha Anh introduces the project of teaching drawing classes for sick children to visitors (Photo: Duc Binh).
Ha Anh said that the students spent a lot of time learning about volunteer art club models. Most of the clubs could not last long due to lack of teachers, the form was more for entertainment than learning, not really organized, and had no output results...
Choosing a class format requires a higher level of professionalism than a club. Because the class must have a teacher, not just paper and paint for the sick children to play freely.
The class also had to have lesson plans, teaching aids, exercises, tests, and learning outcomes. This seemed beyond the capabilities of middle and high school students. But when the group brought the project documents to Bach Mai Hospital, they convinced the leadership with a detailed, coherent, and unique plan.
“Here, most of the children are hospitalized for a long time. Their studies are interrupted, they are isolated from the community, they only receive daily injections and medication, they are mentally exhausted and lonely.
With this project of the students, I am very impressed and very happy, because the activities of the class really help the children to integrate better, no longer feel abandoned when in the hospital. This is an important psychological factor that helps the process of improving the disease faster. Thank you very much for that", Dr. Nguyen Thanh Nam, Director of the hospital's Pediatric Center, shared.
To participate in the project, each member must undergo professional drawing courses and have a solid foundation of fine arts knowledge (Photo: Duc Binh).
Every weekend, Ha Anh and her friends carry out a project of bringing art supplies to the hospital to teach drawing. The “students” of the “students” span many different ages. Some are in 6th and 7th grade, about the same age as the “teacher”. Some are still in kindergarten. To make the class effective, the project team divides the class into different levels, assigning each member to be in charge of each group of students.
Lesson plans for older students will be different from those for kindergarteners. At the same age, they choose each student's ability and adjust the teaching method. How can everyone be able to draw, everyone can complete a small picture in one morning.
Each drawing session lasts two and a half hours, from 9am to 11:30am - just enough time for a child undergoing treatment to not feel overwhelmed, but enough to spark a spark of joy in the day.
The students are all sick children, getting better one day and getting worse the next. Not everyone can attend the entire course. But the "little teachers" do not give up. Even when their students have to stay in the IV room, they bring paper and paint to the hospital bed. The drawing class takes place right on that hospital bed, amidst the tangled lines.
The tangible result of the project is more than 100 paintings created by the children themselves. The paintings were drawn with IV needles still in their hands - in the hospital space - and strongly spread the message "each stroke is a bridge connecting love".
Among those paintings, there are works whose owners can now "only admire from above the blue clouds".
Young teachers grow up with each class
Because the project is a drawing class, there are no purely entertaining and fun activities such as coloring or free-form drawing. The "teachers" and "teachers" of school age teach their students basic knowledge of drawing, from the color palette, how to mix colors, how to use colors, how to create shapes and some advanced drawing techniques.
Although she is only in 10th grade, Ha Anh has had many years of practice at the Lea art studio located in the school she attends. The other members also have at least 1-2 years of drawing experience. Each member’s “portfolio” meets the requirements of an art class for children.
Not only that, before working with pediatric patients, the children in the project group also carefully studied communication methods, approaches, things to keep in mind when using words, how to communicate with pediatric patients who are very vulnerable due to their declining physical and mental health, and other regulations in the hospital environment...
Drawing class for pediatric patients at the Pediatric Center, Bach Mai Hospital, Hanoi (Photo: Duc Binh).
“When we were preparing, we were quite worried. But when we started working, we found it easier than we thought. The children were very well-behaved and easy to get to know and talk to. We encountered almost no obstacles,” Ha Anh shared.
After each lesson, the students not only return with a smaller box of paint, but also with more: maturity, empathy, and belief that small things can make a difference.
Ha Anh, the group leader, has another dream: "I want to become a professional artist, to be able to draw pictures, to draw comics, to do the creative work that an artist can do."
In the open space at the Pediatric Center, where there are usually only the sounds of medical vehicles and heart rate monitors, now there are children's laughter and questions about which color mixed with which color makes light purple. Those classes teach the children an important thing, that they are still children, still able to play, be creative and love.
It is also there that the "teachers" who are wearing student uniforms grow up every day with their hearts, their hands and their sincere empathy.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/nhom-hoc-sinh-mo-lop-hoc-ve-ben-giuong-benh-nhi-20250623214850824.htm
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