The group of specialists from the North-Western district took part in the ‘Culture for Health’ project study tour
From the 21st to 27th of April in the framework of Nordic Council of Ministers ‘Culture for Health’ project study trip specialists from Saint Petersburg visited Turku (Finland) and Stockholm (Sweden).
From the 21st to 27th of April a study trip of specialists from Saint Petersburg took place in Turku (Finland) and Stockholm (Sweden) the framework of Nordic Council of Ministers ‘Culture for Health’ project.
The goal of the study trip was to learn about the experience of foreign colleagues related to how such areas as culture and healthcare can interact, how a healthy lifestyle can be promoted and popularized and how accessible environment for people with special needs can be created.
The study trip included representatives from Saint Petersburg Committee for Culture and Health Committee, management and specialists from National Research University ‘Higher School of Economics’, Saint Petersburg State Budgetary Institution of Culture ‘State Library for blind and visually challenged people’, State Museum Complex ‘St.Isaac's Cathedral, Saint Petersburg State Budgetary Institution of Culture ‘Saint Petersburg State Academic Capella’, ‘PUPPETS – an Accessible Theatre’ theatre, Federal State Budgetary Institution Research Psychoneurological Institute named after Bekhterev, Saint Petersburg Rehabilitation Treatment Centre ‘Child Psychiatry named after S.Mnukhin’, State Budgetary Institution ‘Institute of Cultural Programs’.
In the course of the study trip in Turku the participants had an opportunity to get to know best Finnish practices in cooperation between culture and healthcare. Leading specialists from Turku Administration designated departments headed by Turku’s Chairman of Culture Maya Percho demonstrated the projects that had already been successfully implemented in the ‘culture for health’ sphere and presented the city’s development strategy for this area.
In Stockholm the participants were shown recent research by leading Swedish scientists that provided conclusive evidence of the positive influence that culture has on human health, on psychoemotional state, which in its turn impacts the level of satisfaction with life and its quality. Moreover, a number of Swedish medical institutions, in particular Vidarkliniken medical centre in the town of Jarna and the region of Skåne, for many years have employed the so-called integrative approach in treatment, where culture and cultural activities are prescribed to a patient together with medicine.
Sweden and Finland pay much attention to the engagement of people with special health needs into the cultural life of society. Within this sphere the participants got familiar with Finnish and Swedish projects that had not only been created for such people, but also had been developed together with them. Such projects include: making the famous Turku’s castle accessible for all categories of citizens (special elevators, stairlifts, adapted excursion services, Swedish project AccessAbility in tourism (the development of customized tourist routes), Share Music Sweden projects in dramatic art (production of performances that involve people with disabilities alongside professional actors).
Working visits, business meetings, discussions, experience exchange with Finnish and Swedish colleagues have laid the foundation for establishing a sustainable platform in ‘Culture for Health’ sphere between Nordic countries and Saint Petersburg.