what does art have to do with health care?

I saw the movie Hamnet last night.

What in the world does a fictionalized account of Shakespeare's origin story have to do with health care?

It turns out a lot.

Art is a salve for the suffering.

People in health care - patients, families and staff - all suffer.

Art comforts the artist in the process of its creation.

Art comforts those who witness it, as they see themselves reflected in the art.

Hamnet was full of reminders for the present day.

Hamnet reminds us that art is a powerful, centuries-old phenomenon that will never ever be replaced by technology.

Hamnet reminds us that we must support artists to create art. It is no coincidence that the two co-stars of the movie are Irish actors. Ireland is a country that supports its artists.

Hamnet is a story about birth and death. It reminds us to be grateful for who we have every second of every day as who we love can be taken away from us at any moment.

Hamnet is a call to be grateful for modern-day vaccines and medicines. It is a reminder that others have not had access to life-saving care that has reduced childhood mortality rates.

This movie is about mothering. It dispels the myth that mothers had many babies in times and places where children died to somehow replace those lost children. Instead, it dispels that myth with the reality that every death of every child was deeply mourned by their mothers.

On a personal note, Hamnet reminded me why me, as a person with an English degree in Shakespeare and art history, has worked in health care her entire career.

Art helps us, as the movie tells us, to keep our hearts open. Today's health care desperately needs those with open hearts to temper the pull of efficiency, easy technology answers and capitalism.

Ultimately, health care is about science and medicine AND emotion and heart.

For us all.