The creation of The Methodist Hospital Center for Performing Arts Medicine (CPAM) in 2000, by Dr. Richard Stasney, was inspired by the desire to foster a mutually beneficial relationship between Houston’s Texas Medical Center, the world’s largest concentration of medical institutions and programs, and Houston’s arts community, the third largest home to working artists in the nation. The Mission CPAM is to deliver specialized health care and wellness education of the highest quality to performing artists, to integrate the fine arts into the hospital environment, and, through interventional research, to harness the effects of the arts in patient care, rehabilitation and human performance. To achieve the goals of its mission, CPAM presents the following programs:
Specialized Healthcare and Education
- Specialized health care and wellness education made accessible to performing artists from around the globe by a roster of over 100 world class Methodist CPAM Doctors
- Stay-on-Stage programs provides free flu shots and other health-related services to the arts community
- CPAM is the official healthcare provider for the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera and the Houston Ballet, providing a wide variety of specialized ongoing healthcare services to these institutions
- An Artist Gold Card is issued to artists who wish to be registered at Methodist in order to expedite records and information
- CPAM maintains a call center staffed by CPAM liaisons to refer/schedule appointments for performers with the appropriate CPAM Member specialists/practitioners.
- A collaborative partnership with the Center for the Performing Artists at Weill Cornell Medical School in New York provides for information exchange and consultation
Arts Integration
- In balance with its commitment to specialized health care and wellness education, the Center supports the integration of the fine arts into the hospital environment, evidenced at Methodist through its free “First Tuesdays at Methodist” professional concert series, “Inprint” creative writing workshops, and “Healing Arts” photography exhibits.
Arts Intervention
- CPAM works to garner grant monies for CPAM researchers in a wide range of performing arts medicine areas. The Center is presently engaged in innovative collaborative research aimed to harnesses the effects of the arts in patient care, rehabilitation and human performance.
The Methodist Hospital Center for Performing Arts Medicine (CPAM), The Methodist Experience and The Methodist Hospital's Volunteer Services invite visitors, guests, employees, physicians, and patients of the Texas Medical Center to a series of free concerts in Crain Garden of The Methodist Hospital. Any Methodist employee who purchases from the Fannin St. Starbucks in the main lobby during the concerts will receive a 15% discount. Please show your employee badge.
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CPAM is proud to have established in January of 2009 the only regular professional concert series of The Texas Medical Center. The goal of these free concerts is to build a stronger, mutually beneficial bridge between the extraordinary arts and medical communities of Houston. CPAM achieves this by providing a central venue in The Medical Center to experience the performing arts in an intimate and uniquely meaningful way. As the concerts are free, open the public and take place at the "lunch hour" and “rush hour” times of the day, the Medical Center community and guests to Houston are able to integrate into their regular day the therapeutic benefits of the performing arts, illuminating the relevance of music as a handmaiden to life and the holistic healing environment.
*“Who would have thought that the lobby of a hospital would be a great place for music? Elevator music, maybe. But not an orchestra of 75 medical musicians in scrubs, enthusiastically performing Dvorak's "New World Symphony" at the Methodist Hospital on November 11. What could have been a tough visit to see her father in the emergency room was made easier for Cindy Ratcliffe when she stopped to listen to the soaring sounds of the Texas Medical Center Orchestra. " The beautiful music made me so happy," Some, like Ratcliffe, listened for a few minutes. Others watched from the balcony and joined in the calls for encore when the performance ended. Even conductor Libi Lebel was surprised by the audiences response.”
(Press photo care of www.Culturemap.com)
