Art ameliorates life for patients

NORTH GLENDALE — Glenoaks Elementary School parents on Tuesday sorted through boxes of art supplies that were collected over the last two weeks through a drive to support an arts and music program at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, said Lan Fabian, outreach coordinator for the PTA.

Severely ill children often use art and music as a form of therapy at the hospital, but the facility relies on donations to support the activities, with some supplies to come from Glenoaks for the second straight year, said Ashley Huddleston, assistant director of special events at the hospital.

“That program benefits the patients directly in that we have art therapists and music therapists that work with the patients in the hospital,” Huddleston said.

A group of four parents went from classroom to classroom with a cart to collect boxes of crayons, markers, colored pencils, glue sticks and stationery, which they then sorted by type into 11 boxes of materials, Fabian said.

Parents will take the donations to the hospital, which treats children with serious health problems, Feb. 12, she said.

“I really think that these kids are so sick,” she said. “And they came to the hospital to do all sorts of procedures and testing, and I think any time you can [offer arts activities], I think it will really help them heal and help them feel more normal and more human, like the rest of the kids.”

Art supplies, like those being donated by Glenoaks, offer an important resource for therapists and can be instrumental in helping the young patients through difficult experiences, Huddleston said.

“They just want to have a distraction,” she said. “Or sometimes, with artwork, they’ll draw something about the way they’re feeling, and they’ll be able to talk about that with the therapists.”

Glenoaks parents held another simultaneous collection for monetary donations for the Cooley’s Anemia Foundation, which is dedicated to helping those afflicted with thalassemia, also known as Cooley’s anemia, a genetic blood disorder that requires regular transfusions, according to the foundation.

Parents were able to raise more than $1,100 that they then gave as a surprise to Glenoaks’ secretary and the fundraising chairwoman for the foundation’s California chapter, Agnes Jackson.

“This is a cause that’s been close to my heart for about 15 years now,” said Jackson, who has been working for the organization for 15 years, but only after she discovered that her now-40-year-old daughter suffered from a mild version of the disorder.

The money will not go to support research, as other, larger donations might, but instead will be used to give young thalassemia patients a fun experience, Jackson said.

“I’d like to take the patients to maybe a Dodger game or something,” Jackson said of how she might use the funds on the patients.

The life expectancy for most Cooley’s anemia patients is 21, and many have to have transfusions every three weeks, she said.

Jackson had been hoping to organize an activity for the patients and was excited about the fundraiser at the school, she said.

“It was very touching to me when I heard from the principal when they were doing it,” she said.