This is the first full week for a limited-time, unique program at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth. It's offering a free health care clinic for performance artists.
"I believe there are so many performers out there who either are just thinking, o'h, this is part of my life. Art is painful. Art has suffered and this is just what I have to endure,'" UNT Health Science Center Dr. Yein Lee said. "I used to think that."
Lee started violin when she was about 7 years old and played seriously for years.
"There are so many things I did wrong at that time," Lee said. "As a physician now I'm like, what was I thinking? No wonder I was playing with pain all the time!"
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Lee wanted to help performance artists avoid some of the pitfalls.
"When I started taking care of musicians, dancers...any kind of performing artist, I realized they don't have high-paying jobs and many of them are underinsured and uninsured," Lee said. "But what if they have access to health care providers like us, you know?"
"Honestly, it gave me a safety net to take risks and trust myself; not just physically in my body, but definitely mentally," former UNT dance student Josie Arsenio said. "Knowing that if I had pain, it wouldn't be something long-term."
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Lee calls the free Performing Arts Medicine Clinic her "baby."
"Our lives are really enriched by their performances and their arts, but then I feel like we don't really care about their health very much," Lee said. "I feel like I'm getting a little piece of the art, you know?"
The free clinic is possible through funding from an anonymous donor.
"If we can create this kind of program from an anonymous donor, then maybe we can expand it," Lee said, making a wish. "It doesn't have to be all the time, but maybe it's a recurring program."
The Performing Arts Medicine Clinic is at the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth. It started this month and will run through March. It's open to any performance artist of any age with a performance-related injury or condition. Call 817-735-2455 to book an appointment.
