Meet Moira Breslin and Michael Raisch, third-year medical students at Duke University.

They are thriving in medical school and have found the relationships they have formed there very rewarding.

"But the hospital can be a very difficult place to find community," Breslin said. "Our hospital-based relationships are, by nature, intense and short."

The two decided they wanted to come up with a project that would make them feel that they were more rooted and integrated with the people in the area. Combining their shared love of creating arts and crafts and their interest in quality of life issues for people living with illness, the two thought that bringing the arts to a palliative care setting through a team of health providers should be their goal. The group of health providers would ideally include medical students, nurses, physicians' assistants and physical therapists.

They approached Michael McLeod, one of their professors. He liked the idea and led them to Project Compassion, a Chapel Hill-based organization with which he is involved. Project Compassion provides support and community for people living with serious illness, caregiving, end-of-life issues and grief.

McLeod, Breslin, Raisch and James Brooks, the organization's executive director, worked together to refine the idea until they thought they had something that was workable.

The Healing Arts Support Team project begins this month and will be a complement to the volunteer teams that Project Compassion puts together to work with individuals living with illness. Each week, a participant who has expressed a desire to participate will meet a team of two Healing Arts volunteers in his home for about two hours.

Breslin and Raisch have developed a menu of art projects that they think will be fun, including painting, journaling and photography.

"We see this as having two possible and not exclusive outcomes," Breslin said. "First, art offers a very visceral and personal reflection of one's feelings. We hope that by engaging in these projects, a person will be able to express something about their life that they could not otherwise express in words. We hope that this will help them find greater peace and understanding of the hardship they are facing. Second, we hope that people will have a good time and get lost in the creation of a really fun project."

Brooks said the support teams who help people living with illness offer practical, emotional, spiritual and quality of life support and have done spontaneous art activities before.

"We have really seen people living with illness blossom when they have this opportunity," he said. "I am so excited to be doing this project with Moira and Michael. I see them as remarkable individuals. They are future doctors who have a real heart for caring for the whole person and being involved in community in a meaningful way."

He said their commitment, creativity and desire have given him a glimmer of hope about health care's future.

"If we can get health care professionals really understanding what it is like to live with illness every day then I think that brings us to more compassionate health care," Brooks said.

Breslin and Raisch are working with Project Compassion this year through the N.C. Albert Schweitzer Fellows Program.

"We hope that by promoting palliative care and art together we can change the public's perception of palliative care as a form of morbid suffering to that of the best end-of-life experiences available," Breslin said.

The Healing Arts Support Team is seeking donations of the following art supplies: craft paper, art/painting paper, canvas, pencils, crayons, markers, watercolor and acrylic paints, paint brushes, painting boards, string, scissors, felt and clean cloth scraps, copper wire, pots for planting, throw covers, storage bins, labels and dividers. Donated items may be dropped off at the Project Compassion office at 180 Providence Road, Suite 1-C in Chapel Hill Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Call Brooks at 402-1844 with questions.

Project Compassion is a hands-on organization helping people throughout the Triangle, but Brooks also travels the country teaching communities how the organization does what it does. He is committed to Breslin's and Raisch's innovative Healing Arts Support Team, and it potentially could be used as a model throughout the country.

Breslin and Raisch have been studying non-stop for their medical board exams. Send them good thoughts. They are part of our community.

Deborah R. Meyer can be contacted at 942-3252 or at eloise@nando.com.

SEE SUFFERING, B