Two Voices

Throughout my lifetime I have heard two voices from within: the scientist asking "Why?" and the artist asking "Why not?" Fortunately, I have discovered opportunities along my career path to pursue and combine these two passions—my love for science and my love for the arts—in creative and unusual ways.

I began my career as a registered nurse. In these early years I worked in a variety of healthcare settings with adults and children, from those who were critically ill in intensive care units to those less ill in ambulatory settings. After marriage, I had four children in rapid succession. At this busy stage I worked and volunteered outside the home occasionally. However, when my youngest child was eight months old, I felt that my mind was beginning to turn to "mashed potatoes." Nursing school had provided a diploma and 30 credits toward a bachelor's degree. To even dream about working toward a degree at that time with all of my family responsibilities was something I didn't even allow myself to consider. I decided to take a class—just one class—at the local university one evening a week. My very supportive husband, fresh out of graduate school and hard at work establishing his own career, made a commitment to always be at home with the children that one evening a week. Throughout the many moves and seemingly endless parade of colleges and universities, he never let me down.

To my surprise, I absolutely loved school. Papers were written and chapters were read a little at a time, by snatching a few minutes while waiting in a car pool line or sequestering myself in the quiet of the bathroom. One reading assignment for an international relations class was completed entirely by lantern light on a family camping trip.

In time, I added a second class per week, then a third, and so on, as family and work responsibilities permitted. I had no idea where I was going and just decided to study whatever interested me at the time. Eventually, I was drawn back to my early love of art. Our family finally stayed in one place long enough for me to meet the requirements and earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in the visual arts in 1981.

With degree in hand, I began teaching art to children and adults. The word quickly spread that because of my healthcare background, everyone was welcome. Very soon I found that I really enjoyed working with children who were ill or disabled. However, about six months into this new chapter in my life I was diagnosed with a life-threatening condition and told by a physician who didn't know a great deal about it that I had only about a year or two to live. I mention this only because of the valuable lessons I learned from the experience. First, I learned that life is very precious and not something to be taken for granted. Second, that my illness didn't just affect me; it had a major impact on every member of my family. And third, that dealing with the psychosocial aspects of an illness, such as the reactions of others, often was far worse than dealing with the physical issues. I remember thinking at the time just how much more difficult this part of it must be for children.

A specialist at the local medical school provided appropriate treatment, and soon I was back on my feet and spending hours at a local medical school library reading everything I could find about psychosocial issues of care for children. This provided the background I needed to develop a drawing booklet for children who were hospitalized. I also began writing an international newsletter about psychosocial issues of children's healthcare. Shortly thereafter, I was invited to join a local group of pediatric nurses, all with graduate degrees, who encouraged me to pursue graduate work. One member in particular, Donna Wong, also motivated me to submit an article to a referred journal, Pediatric Nursing. Today, I am editor of that journal and author or co-author of several other articles and books. Little did I know at the time the significant impact this small group of colleagues would have on my career.

My hours of working outside the home increased, but with the group and my family's support, I earned an M.S. in child development and family studies in 1989. My interest in the effects of a family member's illness on other members of the family system led to my research on siblings of children with cancer; my developing understanding of children's use of drawing made the choice of kinetic family drawings as a tool for the research a natural.

Over time, my interests expanded to ways that children can use the arts—including music, dance, storytelling, poetry, and so on—to help cope with the stresses of hospitalization, illness, and disability. I have written and spoken on the topic in many forums in the US and overseas, and founded and coordinate "Studio G," an artists-in-residence program in pediatrics at Georgetown University Medical Center. In 1990, through the international organization Very Special Arts (VSA arts), I developed "Arts for Children in Hospitals," a course for medical students on the importance of the arts for children in hospitals and in the lives of the students themselves. The following year I provided training in the course to other medical schools, including Dartmouth, Harvard, Northwestern, Tufts, and University of Florida. The course is now offered in medical schools throughout the nation. I continue to teach this popular course to first year medical students at Georgetown each spring.

In 1993, one of the people from Harvard who had attended the training asked if I would like to do a presentation about the course at a conference in Sturbridge, MA, being held by a young organization called the Society for the Arts in Healthcare. The conference was another life-altering experience. For the first time ever I was surrounded by people who understood my work because it was their work, too. No explaining was necessary. I had found a home.

While continuing my work at the hospital, as the healthcare community recognized less traditional issues as preventable public health problems, I began developing violence, gang, substance abuse, suicide, child abuse, and adolescent pregnancy prevention materials and conducting training for other organizations such as the National Crime Prevention Council and the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. These opportunities are very satisfying ways to combine my previous work as a nurse and therapist in psychiatric and chemical dependency settings with my educational background and community work in these and related fields.

Five years as the Director of Research and Program Development at WVSA arts connection, a non-profit organization that uses the arts and education to work with children and youth with special needs, provided a wonderful opportunity to enhance my learning in the field of arts in education and my understanding of the many ways in which this field overlaps arts in healthcare. Perhaps my two most satisfying accomplishments during my tenure at WVSA were creating "ART is the heART," an arts in healthcare program for children and families in hospice care, and thanks to a Society for the Arts in Healthcare/Johnson & Johnson award, the book "Arts for Children at Bedside."

In the mid '90s I began seriously considering working toward a PhD. Friends told me I would know when it was time; after a couple of years of thinking about it, I knew I was ready. Once again I wanted to look at childhood cancer and to use drawing as a research tool. Because I was curious about ways in which cultural and treatment setting variations could effect children's stress and coping, I proposed an international study and was very fortunate to have the opportunity to have research sites in the US and the UK. Once again, thanks to an understanding family as well as a supportive employer, after five years of study, people were calling me Dr. Rollins.

Today, as the healthcare dollar becomes increasingly dear, people are being asked to assume more responsibility for their healthcare. Each encounter with the healthcare system is viewed as an opportunity to educate individuals and their families in health promotion and illness and injury prevention. The medical and lay communities have become more open to complementary and integrated medicine practices. Rightfully, the arts also are gradually assuming significant roles in many healthcare settings.

As each healthcare dollar becomes more precious, we are learning that we cannot afford to invest in policies, programs, and practices that are doomed for failure. As the artist in me thinks of innovative ways to approach these issues and asks "Why not?" I hear the scientist in me asking "Why? What evidence do you have that it will work?" I acknowledge that the policies, programs, and practices that hold the most promise for success are those with a strong research base to support them. And so, as long as I am able, I will strive to contribute to this important body of knowledge.

Judy Rollins