Simply put, the artworks that now line the corridor of the rehabilitation and transitional care unit at Ballina District Hospital “give patients a good reason to get out of bed and take walks.”
The words came from well-known local GP, Sue Page, who was representing the Board of the Northern NSW Local Health District at the opening of the latest stage of exhibited works done by all nine pre-schools and kindergartens in the Shire.
Stages 1 and 2 feature works by Ballina’s primary and high schools, public and private, and have a similar focus on environmental features of the area - the sea, bird and wildlife, agriculture, the hills, and the built landscape, including the Big Prawn.
The aim of the project, as Diversional Therapist, Tracey Beck, explained, is to provide rehab patients with a visually pleasant walking ‘track’, distance marked, with rest points, rather than expecting them to enjoy endlessly walking down a long white corridor.
The canvases for the works, and the benches at regular intervals along the lengthy corridor, were donated by the Ballina Hospital Auxiliary, an active fundraiser. They also arranged for floor markers to be positioned every five metres so patients can gauge how far they have walked.
Pre-school representatives and teachers attended the launch, as did Ballina’s Mayor David Wright, who praised the initiative and thanked the schools that had participated to date, and the Auxiliary for their financial support. The response from the patients themselves? The smiles said it all, and not surprisingly, as the artworks are highly imaginative, and superbly done.
The fourth and final stage of the project will feature works from local Aboriginal artists.
