Humans not Heroes – ensuring stories from healthcare workers are heard
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented challenges for healthcare workers. Not surprisingly, these challenges have exacerbated existing wellbeing issues for this group.
"The funding enabled China Plate Theatre to support five cohorts of healthcare workers to work with writers, actors, and a sound designer to co-create unique pieces of audio artwork, based on real-life experiences of working throughout the pandemic."
In fact, a report from The King’s Fund (2020) found that Covid-19 had compounded issues such as workplace stress, burnout and absenteeism within the healthcare workforce, and that these impacts were particularly felt within ethic minority groups.
From a background in Emergency Nursing, I wanted to find a way to support healthcare workers during this uniquely challenging time. Later this evolved to finding a way for healthcare worker experiences to be heard and documented through a co-creation approach with China Plate Theatre and Coventry University called - ‘Humans Not Heroes’.
It was thanks in part to a grant from the Churchill Fellowship Covid-19 Action Fund, that we were able to bring the Humans Not Heroes project to life. One of my favourite Winston Churchill quotes is, “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
I believe he would have approved of this project - to allow the public to hear the testimonies of those that we called ‘heroes’ during the pandemic, but who (in their own words) were just ordinary people, doing their jobs.
The funding enabled China Plate Theatre to support five cohorts of healthcare workers to work with writers, actors, and a sound designer to co-create unique pieces of audio artwork, based on real-life experiences of working throughout the pandemic. The healthcare worker participants are from a variety of roles and experiences, from up and down the country.
Healthcare worker participants described taking part as ‘moving’ and ‘cathartic’. Artists who took part were also moved by their experience, with one artist, Nick Walker, stating that they thought it gave the whole team real insight into how different disciplines can work together and enrich each other.
All five audio artworks were recently launched as part of the Unmasked: Real Stories of Nursing in Covid-19 exhibition at the Royal College of Nursing Library in London. The exhibition is now open until Saturday 21 October 2023 and you can find out more information about it on the Royal College of Nursing's website.
How did my Fellowship Research influence Humans Not Heroes?
My Churchill Fellowship centered around domestic abuse and improving services for patients presenting in the Emergency Department. One of my major findings through my learning travels in Bangladesh was how ‘the Arts’ and stories are often used to manage difficult situations or topics. This is also a way to bring people together as a group and allow them to share their experiences in a safe environment.
After my Fellowship, I worked with China Plate Theatre to hold theatre workshops with healthcare workers in the Emergency Department, to help them to explore challenging topics such as domestic abuse and consider how such situations may also affect their own wellbeing. This type of workshop was then adapted to be held online, to provide a similar forum for healthcare workers during the pandemic.
Where next?
After its London run, we are really excited that the exhibition will move to Edinburgh where it will run from November 2023 to April 2024. If you are unable to make it to the “live” exhibition but would like to listen to the artworks/ contribute to the research, you can listen to the artworks at the China Plate Website here: Humans Not Heroes - China Plate (chinaplatetheatre.com)
A concurrent research project is also taking [VM1] place with Coventry University led by Dr Sally Pezaro. The purpose of the research is to capture the impact of the audio artworks hosted in the ‘Humans not Heroes’ collection from the perspective of their audiences including the public, healthcare staff and those who contributed to their creation. You can take part in the research until 31 December 2023.
Image credit: Getty
Funded by The Rayne Foundation, Coventry Creates (partnership between the University of Warwick and Coventry University) and The Churchill Fellowship. Ethical approval granted by Coventry University.
Find out more and connect on Twitter using these handles:
@KerryWykes @HeroesHumans @YourOldChina @SallyPezaro
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.