Our Arts Programme in Renal Dialysis celebrates its 20th Anniversary in 2026. This programme supports patients in the Renal Dialysis Unit at University Hospital Waterford (UHW) to engage in creative activity during their long hours of treatment. The programme began as a pilot project in 2006, with an artist supporting patients to make various forms of visual art. Since then, it has expanded to include creative writing, poetry, music, painting, drawing, photography, film and storytelling.
This Waterford Healing Arts programme is managed by Réalta, and has been generously funded by the Punchestown Kidney Research Fund since its inception. In 2024, the programme extended to the BBraun Wellstone Wexford Renal Care Centre, under the title Making My Mark.
To mark the 20th Anniversary, we recently published a case study on artsandhealth.ie, the national resource website for the Arts + Health community, which is also managed by Réalta. You can read the case study here: Feeling Seen, Heard & Valued: 20 Years of Arts in Renal Dialysis at UHW
Photo shows storyteller Joe Brennan sharing stories with dialysis patient Mary Power in the Renal Dialysis Unit at UHW.
Photo by DGM Photographic
