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An art therapist, disguised as an elf and trained in hypnosis, visits end-of-life patients at the Croix-Rousse hospital in Lyon. His visit has become so essential that it is part of the care protocol.
Uonam, the elf, never moves without his trunk from which birdsong escapes. For more than four years, he has taken his poetry to the Croix-Rousse hospital in Lyon (Rhône), at the bedside of patients in palliative care. Pauline Mounier was impatiently waiting for her bird. Her legs no longer carry her, she who loved to dance. The art therapist reconnects her to joy. The magic happens, and suddenly anything is possible. “It’s a day of magic. I’m overwhelmed”she says.
Integrated into the mobile palliative care team
As a gift, Uonam offers her a luminous bottle, so that she can summon her inner light at any time. “It often goes deep”, he comments. Many patients are at the end of life. With him, they talk more easily regarding death than their family. “He takes everything lightly. He laughs with you, it’s not serious. With him, I forget to be serious”, says Ahmed Mghezzi Habellah, a patient. According to caregivers, Uonam helps soothe the sick.
The art therapist is integrated into the mobile palliative care team led by Dr. Myriam Legenne, who had the idea for the collaboration.
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