Hands On Isobel Manning, Lead artist isobel.manning@network.rca.ac.uk Victoria Jones, Founder of GO Create! Victoria.Jones@rch.org.au Introductions Victoria Jones Isobel manning Hands project

Victoria I started the GO Create Victoria I started the GO Create! arts programme in 2005 and it has grown to become a wide and varied programme now which includes a number of site-specific commissioned artworks; a growing art collection; an annual creative residency programme; regular workshops throughout the hospital; a music and performance programme; a cultural enrichment programme for staff; changing exhibition areas plus a small number of ad hoc specialist projects. Participatory creative activities provide important and welcome distraction within the often stressful hospital environment and as well as being fun, they can also provide opportunities for creative expression to children and young people that they might not otherwise receive. The participatory strands of our programme have continuously delivered the widest range of events & activities to provide a vibrant, exciting and relevant programme.

Isobel The ‘Hands On’ project took place across the hospital for 18 months. The focus of the project was to explore the ritual and importance of hand washing in the hospital environment. Working across GOSH, we delivered a wide ranging series of investigative workshops for the patients and their families, looking at why they are encouraged to wash their hands and how this practice limits the spread of infectious diseases. The project also looked at how this custom developed historically and the cultural issues around handwashing.

In working on previous arts projects at the hospital I became aware of a paradox between the instinctive need children have to investigate their environment and touch the things that surround them, and the acute implications of spreading infections through this physical hands-on exploration and contact. This idea effectively set an agenda for the project and I wanted the children to develop a keener physical awareness when learning about why they need to wash their hands. The use of science as a model for tactile investigation was intended to give the children the freedom to use their hands for positive engagement with their surroundings. It gave them a chance to explore the ‘micro-worlds’ that exist on their own hands, that they didn’t necessarily know were there. Specifically the project was about how hand washing affects the lives of children who are patients at Great Ormond Street and it resulted in an animated film created by participants that is now shown across the Trust; on the GO Create! webpages and on the patient bedside entertainment system.

The project included 5 major areas of activity: The first of these areas was the Microbiological science surrounding the hands and handwashing. Participants learnt how the hands can spread infection and what types of bacteria, viruses and fungi can be carried by the hands. Children studied microscopic images and in practical sessions learnt directly from hospital microbiologists from the Infection Prevention and Control Team. They took their own environmental swabs and samples and then cultivated them in the labs. Children also learnt about the inner structure of the hands and the muscles, bones and tissues that make our hands work in the way that they do.

In the next phase of the project a wide range of creative Activities were delivered across the trust for children of all ages and their families. With the support of hospital staff and play workers, we set up a little lab in the outpatients waiting area and ran workshops in different areas of the hospital, working one-to-one with patients in their rooms and setting up drop-in sessions in the play areas of various wards. The activities included designing microbial gloves, inventing their own microorganisms and creating large scale drawings of microscopic findings. We also developed activity packs that were handed out to all participants. These included games, drawing activities, and a flick book that looked at what we use our hands for, the historical and social associations with hand washing and studies of the hands from a microbiologist’s perspective.

To produce the animated film– I interviewed children across the hospital, and recorded their thoughts and opinions on the subject of handwashing. There were many wonderful, imaginative and often informed responses. The children then produced drawings and storyboards based on these ideas for an animation that continues to educate those who watch it.

Continued and long-term Engagement with patients was important to this project and the production of the animated film. A core group of dialysis patients aged 14-17 came into the hospital for dialysis 3 times every week and acted as a steering group for the project. We met regularly and they helped guide me creatively, making important decisions in regards to the final output of the project. They learnt stop frame animation techniques and were responsible for the technical side of producing an animated film. These patients also contributed to the project blog that charted the progress of the project and its relating activities.

The final stage of the Hands On project was the Exhibition/Dissemination of what we had done– We had a preview of the final animated film in the hospital school, which was where our initial sessions with microbiologists had begun. The animation continues to be viewed by all visitors to the hospital provoking further understanding of the hands in relation to infection and microbiology and encouraging a deeper awareness of what children in particular do with their hands.

Hands On www.gosh.nhs.uk/hands-on Isobel Manning, Lead artist isobel.manning@network.rca.ac.uk Victoria Jones, Founder of GO Create! Victoria.Jones@rch.org.au GO Create! @ Great Ormond Street www.gosh.nhs.uk/gocreate The project reached over 300 patients and their families, as well as Play Team staff and nearly 50 other hospital staff members. Now the film is shown on our webpages, throughout the hospital and also on the patient bedside entertainment system and has now reached many, many more than those who directly participated. Because this project and the animation continues to encourage our children, families and staff to be more aware of hand hygiene we now hope to be able to develop a toolkit based on the original project which can be used again and again throughout GOSH but also in other hospitals, schools etc