#MentalHealthAwareness week: 90% said MediCinema supported mental health
Being in hospital is challenging – our cinema-based programmes ease the stress and anxiety felt by many patients, making a positive and lasting impact on their hospital experience. In fact, during our regular surveys, 90% said MediCinema supported people’s mental health and helped them cope. You can read more about our impact here https://www.medicinema.org.uk/impact/
Rhys's Dad David told us about the positive impact the MediCinema had on his son and the whole family after a difficult diagnosis.
When we were in hospital for a stay, Rhys turned to us as we were leaving and said: “Never ever make me come back here ever again, I hate it.” This was hard for us to hear as unfortunately we knew to get better many more of these visits were still to come.
David, father of Rhys
When we found out that Rhys would need to have a colostomy, he was dreading it. And so were we. Knowing how traumatised he had been by past experiences, we discussed his upcoming stay and surgery on numerous occasions with play teams and the medical team at the hospital.
Rhys surgery went well, and two days post his colostomy surgery, we noticed a poster on the wall in Rhys’s room advertising the MediCinema and we asked some of the hospital staff about it.
We didn’t think Rhys would be eligible to go, so when we were told that the whole family could, even Rhys’ brother Matthew … it just lifted us all. When Matthew finished school and came to the hospital the two of them were so excited waiting for the volunteer to come and collect us – they were looking out the window, peeking down the corridor, building up that anticipation. There was so much excitement in that room.
But the biggest impact of that screening was the effect it had on Rhys. After the colostomy surgery they like to get you up and about as quickly as possible. But Rhys was still in quite a bit of pain, spending most of his time in bed or sitting in a chair. When we knew we were going to the MediCinema we’d wondered if we should get him a wheelchair, but then he told us he wanted to walk to the screening. We knew it was going to be quite a walk for him and we didn’t know what to expect. Walking to that cinema was the first time he’d walked any sort of distance following the surgery.
Even though he was going to need to walk again, MediCinema gave him somewhere to walk to. It gave him the motivation to take that first step. After that night at the cinema, it was like he got a new lease of life.
In the past when Rhys has been in hospital, he’s gone in on himself with doctors and nurses coming and going and any conversations all around medical questions, directed at us. But after that screening, he was buzzing, talking about things that happened in the film. He was involved in the conversation!
The whole experience helped reduce his nerves and gave him a newfound confidence, as if he was thinking to himself: “I can do this!”
We are thankful to the following organisations who have marked Mental Health Awareness Week by making a generous donation to MediCinema: Anglo Doorstep Collections, C. Hoare & Co., InfraRed Capital Partners and Robson Laidler.