Thank you!
To everyone who sponsored Serge Lourie to run the London Marathon. Serge finished the race and is grateful for all the support and donations. If you weren't able to make a pledge you can still donate to support our charity.
Poems in the Waiting Room (PitWR) is an Arts in Health charity, registered in the U.K., which publishes and supplies short collections of poems for patients to read while waiting to see their doctor and to take away with them. There is no charge to the patient or to the NHS.
The poems we publish include both established classics and contemporary poetry. They are presented as a three-folded A4-sized card. The poetry cards are distributed quarterly in bundles of twenty. Each card provides some seven or eight poems, many suggested by readers and poets, with about two hundred lines or so of poetry.
The poems we publish include both established classics and contemporary poetry. They are presented as a three-folded A4-sized card. The poetry cards are distributed quarterly in bundles of twenty. Each card provides some seven or eight poems, many suggested by readers and poets, with about two hundred lines or so of poetry.
NHS doctors can sign up, and receive cards each quarter for their waiting room. Patients and poets can become a Friend of PitWR, and support the supply of cards to their local doctor.
Download a sample cardA sample card is available here. This requires an Adobe .pdf reader
|
|
||
Our approach: saying 'thank-you' for NHS care, and promoting poetry
In a patient-centred NHS, poetry needs to be patient centred. The readers are patients - the worried well and the worried sick. The poems we use draw from the springs of well-being. In time of trouble, a measure of comfort is welcome The poems cover both the canon of English verse and contemporary works - poetry from Quill to Qwerty.
Our aim is to help form the healing environment. We seek to show gratitude to health service staff for their care, and to promote poetry and poets.
PitWR concentrates on NHS Primary Care (doctors surgeries) as a way of saying 'thank you' for the care given by family doctors up and down the country. This usually neglected sector provides particular advantage for the arts in health. The units are small scale, directly involving of practice staff, whose enthusiasm is a key to success. General practice doctors deal with the public in their daily routine, so benefits flow directly into the community. Further, general practice is diffused throughout every sector of the community. The poetry pamphlets are taken away by patients in the high-rise concrete wilderness as well as in the leafy suburbs. PitWR poetry reaches parts other arts cannot touch.
PitWR also has a scheme specifically designed for hospitals: PitWR for Hospitals.
See comments from readers poets and doctors.
Submit a poem you think we should include.
Make a donation to help our work. Thank you!
Our aim is to help form the healing environment. We seek to show gratitude to health service staff for their care, and to promote poetry and poets.
PitWR concentrates on NHS Primary Care (doctors surgeries) as a way of saying 'thank you' for the care given by family doctors up and down the country. This usually neglected sector provides particular advantage for the arts in health. The units are small scale, directly involving of practice staff, whose enthusiasm is a key to success. General practice doctors deal with the public in their daily routine, so benefits flow directly into the community. Further, general practice is diffused throughout every sector of the community. The poetry pamphlets are taken away by patients in the high-rise concrete wilderness as well as in the leafy suburbs. PitWR poetry reaches parts other arts cannot touch.
PitWR also has a scheme specifically designed for hospitals: PitWR for Hospitals.
See comments from readers poets and doctors.
Submit a poem you think we should include.
Make a donation to help our work. Thank you!
