ONE ON ONE | Tazim F. Jaffer Introducing art into the culture of healing

Where are you originally from?
I am of Indian heritage. But I was born and raised in Tanzania, and then I went to school in England. Then my husband was in Ireland, so we got married in Ireland, and then we migrated to the States.
So he's from Ireland?
No, he's exactly the same as me, of Indian heritage.
What brought you to the States?
Actually my husband came here for better training and overall better prospects. He's a physician.
Is your education in the arts?
I actually went to business school in England, but I always wanted to go in the arts. But my family would not let me. So after I got married and I came to the U.S., my husband really encouraged me to proceed. While I was raising children, I was also going to school. I got my first degree after going to school part time 10 years at YSU. Then I did my visual anthropology, my graduate work. I got a master's from Kent State. I did my field work in Europe and Tanzania and Africa.
How did you end up at Forum Health?
One day I was at a party and I was talking to the CEO, and I just made a remark that he needs to bring in some art because the environment was so abysmal. He was very much interested in bringing in the arts, so that's how I was hired.
When was that?
Five years ago.
Why did you think it was so important for them to bring the arts in to that type of environment?
I think that we've come full circle as a society. You know, when I was studying anthropology I realized how important it is, how primal cultures use art as healing and how we have gotten away from that. The physician is used to just treating the body, and then the priest does the healing part.
Now, more and more with all the benefit studies of the brain, everybody has gotten on the bandwagon to see that we do benefit from the whole concept of treating a person as a whole, not just the body. That's where art comes in.
There are healing arts, art therapy, there are expressive arts, you just name it. It's an innate expression of ourselves, and if we ignore that part, then we are missing out on a lot. We are not really being treated as a whole. A healthy community is seen as a healthy person living in the community. And to be healthy, it has to be mental and physical.
Now you explained how you ended up in the States, but how did end up in Youngstown specifically?
In Youngstown, it was by chance. Actually my husband, when he was doing his externship, and some of his colleagues came to Youngstown. When they got back, they were comparing notes. They said that this place was a very good community and hospital with good pay and good teaching, so he applied blindly and we just came.
How long ago did you come here?
About 31 or 32 years ago. My daughter was born here. She is 31. My son is here in the community. He is doing his residency at North Side hospital.
It sounds like the arts have come a long way, especially in this area. Do you think there's a lot of work to still be done?
Yes, I think more and more hospitals are going to follow this. They will encourage open records and open family environments. Like, if you are one floor you may bake so the smell will make it to other floors. They make it a very patient-friendly environment. They bring in music, aromatherapy, and all kinds of individual programs.
What's your favorite part of your job?
I think that it's very challenging. The ladies I have been working with are cancer patients. My contact with them, and seeing them and how they have been benefited. When I come home, I don't know whether to cry or what. I get so affected. I don't how the physicians do it.
Do you have one preference of an art form as opposed to another?
Personally? For my own expression, I love painting. But whatever I am painting now is mostly related to the hospital. It hasn't left me enough time to do my own, which I really miss, because my own artwork is very expressive, and I use a lot of non-Western images.
Now you travel a lot too. Is that more personal, or is that work-related?
Work-related only when I go to these international meetings for health care. But personally, I do, because for my own art and for my husband's work.