IN A COUP for its ‘Arts in Health’ project, the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children has been given the rights to use images in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ward from “Baby Wombat’s Week”, written by Jackie French and illustrated by Bruce Whately.

The wombat images are part of the Arts in Health Program which aims to enhance the Canberra Hospital and Health Services’ delivery of health services to the Canberra community.

According to a review by the Arts and Health Working Group in the UK Department of Health in 2007, arts/health projects like this need to be recognised as being integral to health, healthcare provision and healthcare environments.

Whatley, one of Australia’s most highly regarded and talented authors and illustrators for children, has repainted a suite of images from “Baby Wombat’s Week” which were then reproduced in a wipe-clean wallpaper for infection control reasons.

The artist might be considered a wombat expert. In 2002 he paired with French and illustrated “Diary of a Wombat,” leading to an exceptional creative collaboration.

Curator for Arts in Health, Jenny McFarlane, told “CityNews,” “The work looks amazing and totally changes the feel of the space,” adding, “Bruce has been so generous… he actually repainted all these images so we could rephotograph and enlarge them because we could not get the resolution we wanted through other means.” The originals are also hanging in the ward.

“The love and reassurance embodied in these images will support parents caring for their babies in NICU,” McFarlane said. To mark their gratitude there will be an event on Friday to thank French and Whately for their gift and Costco, which paid for the fabrication.