The Museum of the City of Athens visits the Hospital

Article written by Kalliopi Aslanidou for Athens 984, published on April 11, 2019

Patients, their caregivers and their families, as well as hospital staff of the General Oncology Hospital of Kifissia “Oi Aghioi Anargyroi” will virtually “visit” the Museum of the City of Athens – Vouros-Eutaxias Foundation.

Using a specially designed virtual reality tour (VR) and Virtual Reality glasses, patients and their caregivers, will get a virtual tour of the Museum and its space and see artwork and exhibits from its permanent exhibition.

“On Monday, 15 April, 2019, the Museum and PAMEMMAZI Non Profit Organization join forces to offer to those who truly need it a unique cultural experience free of societal limits» said Eleni Tzavaras, PAMEMMAZI’s representative, to Athens 984. “It will be a cultural experience very useful in managing cancer-related stress. This project will be held in PAMEMMAZI’s library space in the hospital.
The Museum has also invited Art Historian Ms Evaggelia Naka, who will facilitate a participatory, interactive presentation entitled ‘Fashion and Art'”.

«PΑΜΕΜΜΑΖΙ»

PAMEMMAZI Non Profit Organization provides creative, meaningful and educational activities to cancer patients – either in-patient or out-patient that visit the hospital to receive treatment – and their caretakers.

PAMEMMAZI was created to realize Emma’s vision. Emma passed away on 20 October 2016, at 24 years of age, 5.5 years since her Ewing sarcoma diagnosis.

Her dream was to break the social taboos surrounding cancer and to show that “life doesn’t end when cancer strikes; instead it becomes worth living”, as she used to say. To realize her dream, Emma’s family and friends established PAMEMMAZI Non Profit Organization aiming to improve the quality of psycho-social and psycho-somatic care of people affected by cancer and to promote a holistic and comprehensive approach to cancer care.

“Our goal is to slowly and steadily expand our activities to other cancer hospitals. There already are a handful of hospitals that have expressed interest in introducing our programs to their hospitals” Ms Tzavaras notes.

Equal opportunities to culture

Through the “Virtual Museum” project, the Museum of the City of Athens offers a new dimension to the notion of “access” and creates a communication network free of limitations, thus providing everyone with equal opportunities. This project aims to make good use of modern technology to provide citizens with equal opportunities to culture and education. This program is offered for free.

The “Virtual Museum” is aimed at groups of people that cannot have physical presence in the Museum due to distance or mobility reasons, financial issues or long stays in health care or social welfare units. All organizations interested in participating in this project may contact the Museum of the City of Athens.

Info

Monday, 15 April 2019 at 11:00 am

PAMEMMAZI space (Building D, ground floor) at the General Oncology Hospital of Kifissia “Oi Aghioi Anargyroi” (Timiou Stavrou, Kifissia)