Several artists participate in the project Radiation +++ of humanization of the Service through art in collaboration with Panera

The next residence will be in charge of Lúa Coderch, who will propose a sound intervention in the bunker to improve the patient's experience

They launch a new radiotherapy accelerator that will allow to offer more precise treatments and with fewer side effects

The Radiation Oncology Service of the Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital has taken another step forward in the fight against cancer through the improvement of the Radiation Oncology Service. It has done so by incorporating cutting-edge technology to treat the disease and through the project Radiation +++, of transformation of the Service through art.

Radiation +++ is a collaborative project between the Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital and the La Panera Art Center, which was born in 2017. The program, in which a dozen artists collaborate, has the support of the Foundation Daniel and Nina Carasso.

The singularity of Radiation +++ lies in the fact that the project does not seek only to humanize the Radiation Oncology Service. The pioneering aspect (given that the Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital is the only hospital in Spain that is doing this type of project) lies in the search for interaction between artists, patients, former patients, family members and service professionals. Everyone works with a common goal: to use art to transform space and improve the experience of the entire hospital community. "It is a project that we have made ours and that has managed to involve the entire team, we firmly believe we have seen that it helps improve the experience of patients and professionals," said Moisés Mira, head of the Radiation Oncology Service. "We do not put predesigned works by artists, but interventions are made based on interviews and surveys to detect the real needs of patients, families and staff of the Service," added Roser Sanjuán, responsible for the area of Education of Panera.

So far, they have participated in the program Radiation +++ by Lleida artist Lara Costafreda, who has turned a gray space without natural light into a colorful and cheerful place; the members of Domestic Date streamers, who have worked pictorial and interactive disciplines; the Basque illustrator Josune Urrutia, who has promoted an illustrated dictionary on cancer, and the playwright Jaime Conde-Salazar. The next artistic residency will be in charge of Lúa Coderch, who will propose a sound intervention in the bunker to improve the patient's experience.

The project Radiation +++ was awarded on April 2 in the 35th edition of the Awards of the Catalan Association of Art Critics (ACCA). Among the five finalist proposals in the category of education, the jury acknowledged "the innovation of using art as a means of social mediation, promoting the participation of the entire hospital community in a project of collective creation".

The Hospital launches a new radiotherapy accelerator

On the other hand, the University Hospital Arnau de Vilanova has released the new TrueBeam linear accelerator, funded by the Amancio Ortega Foundation with a budget of two million euros. The new machine allows to offer more precise treatments and with fewer side effects than the machine that had until now, which has been replaced. With the new system the steps and the necessary time to place the patient (the system identifies each patient before beginning the session), obtain the images and apply the treatment are shortened.

The University Hospital Arnau de Vilanova has two linear accelerators and the TrueBeam has replaced the oldest one. Thus, the new machine complements the other accelerator that currently has the Radiation Oncology Service, which will allow to have two machines with similar characteristics. In this way, the continuity of the service will be increased and the waitings of the patients will be shortened if there is any interruption due to breakdown or revision, since they can be treated indistinctly by either of the two machines.

The new accelerator is the result of a donation from the Amancio Ortega Foundation to Catalan public health, after signing in 2017 an agreement with the Generalitat to renew oncological equipment (accelerators and mammographs), the total amount reaches 47 million euros.

Text i fotografies facilitades per el Gabinet de Comunicació i Imatge de Gerència Territorial de l'ICS Lleida, Alt Pirineu i Aran i Gestió de Serveis Sanitaris - HUAV