The Irene W. and C.B. Pennington Family Foundation is donating $130,000 to the Baton Rouge General Foundation’s Arts in Medicine program, BRG announced today.
The announcement follows news that the Pennington family no longer planned to support BRG’s Pennington Cancer Center following the General’s partnership with Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center.
The Arts in Medicine program uses evidenced-based art and music activities to “treat, heal, and inspire patients,” BRG says, adding that music and art therapy programs have been shown to decrease patients’ feelings of anxiety and depression and promote wellbeing.
“Baton Rouge General’s Arts in Medicine program leaves no stone unturned when it comes to caring for the whole patient,” Paula Pennington de la Bretonne says in a prepared statement. “The Pennington Family Foundation is honored to support a program that will continue to impact families’ lives as they search for hope and healing through the arts.”
Since its inception in 2012, the program has supported more than 115,000 patients, family members and hospital staff. For example, at the neonatal intensive care unit, music therapists use breath, voice and specialized instruments to recreate sounds from the womb that comfort and stimulate babies as they grow, BRG says.
In an October letter to BRG’s board, Pennington de la Bretonne cites the partnership with Mary Bird, announced in January 2022, as part of the reason for withdrawing support for the cancer program. She writes that she felt misled about the nature of the 10-year agreement between the two organizations and that it has led to the “dismantling of the program” and disruptions in patient care. You can read more about that in Daily Report.
