C10 Monday, March 4, 2013
HEALTH The gardens at the Dundee Maggie’s Centre were designed by sculptor Antony Gormley; recreational therapy at the Inverness Maggie’s Centre (below). Main photo: Arcaid
Ask the doctors ................................................ Dr Lim Kar Seng healthpost@scmp.com Q: Just how safe is laser hair removal? And what are the possible side effects? A: Don’t worry, laser hair removal is very safe. The laser used for this process targets the hair follicles damaging them and removing the hair with minimal damage to the surrounding skin. Some possible side effects are small red bumps that may appear around the follicles on the legs. These usually subside within 48 hours. Occasionally, there might be some darkening or lightening over the treated area. This is not common, though, and should disappear within a week. Dr Lim Kar Seng is a senior consultant dermatologist with the Dermatology Practice at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, Singapore
ARTFUL Designed by famous architects and available free of charge, Maggie’s Centres aim to inspire and comfort those affected by cancer, says Giovanna Dunmall
W
hen designer Maggie Keswick Jencks found out that her cancer had spread to her bones, liver and bone marrow, she was sitting in a harshly lit room with her husband, landscape architect and writer Charles Jencks. She sat in a windowless corridor of the hospital contemplating “having two to three months to live”. This dismal episode was a catalyst for Jencks. In the short time she had left – experimental and complementary treatment would extend her life for another two years – she devised a blueprint for a progressive cancer caring centre where people felt respected, soothed and supported, and the design of the building contributed to their recovery and well-being. The prognosis of cancer sufferers may often be bleak, she argues, but no patient should spend his or her last remaining weeks, months or years in equally bleak environments. Shouldn’t the “punch in the stomach” that is a cancer diagnosis be received in a calm and beautiful setting? Also, wouldn’t it be wonderful if cancer sufferers could retain their autonomy and dignity, and take control of their diagnosis, instead of just being a medical statistic?
LAB REPORT ............................................. Jeanette Wang jeanette.wang@scmp.com
That’s zit for research Propionibacterium acnes thrive in the oily depths of skin pores, but scientists have found one strain of the bacteria that could actually prevent, rather than cause, pimples. “This P. acnes strain may protect the skin, much like yogurt’s live bacteria help defend the gut from harmful bugs,” says Li Huiying, an assistant professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at the University of California, Los Angeles, who led the study, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
LODGES
The centre she had in mind would offer medical information, psychological support, advice on nutrition, relaxation therapies and exercise classes. Keswick Jencks, who died in 1995, didn’t live long enough to see her vision come to fruition, but if she had, she’d have liked what she saw. The first Maggie’s Centre opened at Western General Hospital in Edinburgh in 1996, in a stable block converted by architect Richard Murphy. There are now 12 fully operational Maggie’s Centres in Britain (funded by a mix of private and corporate donations and public fund-raising initiatives) and nine more in the pipeline. The first Maggie’s Centre abroad will open soon in Hong Kong, in the grounds of Tuen Mun Hospital. It is designed by
We go about it in the way you would furnish a home. We buy a few things and see how it looks HELEN LUI, MAGGIE’S CENTRE, HONG KONG
architect Frank Gehry, a lifelong friend of the Jencks. There is now evidence and scientific literature to support the idea that views of green spaces, and spacious sunlit rooms, have a positive impact on health. In 2011, the British Medical Association published a landmark report explicitly stating that the “architectural environment can significantly affect recovery times”. The Edinburgh centre is a welcoming place, warm and full of light. From its entrance you can see every part of the building. There is no intimidating signage outside or inside, no alienating corridors, and no receptionist or obvious person in charge when you walk in that might give you the feeling of “them and us”. An inviting, well-stocked kitchen and a large table allow visitors to make their own tea and refreshments and feel at home. Like all the other Maggie’s Centres, it is free to use for anyone affected by cancer (patients, friends and family) and offers a range of classes from yoga to art therapy. As with almost all the centres, it is located in the grounds of a large hospital that has an oncology department. The Edinburgh centre proved so popular it had to be extended in 1999. Soon, cancer sufferers and National Health Service trusts up and down Brit-
ain were asking for their own Maggie’s Centre. The roster of the centres’ growth and resilience.” Helen architects reads like a who’s who Lui, manager of Maggie’s Hong of international architecture: Za- Kong (which has been operating out disturbing it,” says project ha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas and out of an interim centre since architect Sebastien Ricard. It’s a Kisho Kurokawa have all de- 2008), says visitors to the new technically advanced design but, signed one, and centres by Ste- facility will be able to see through importantly, it’s still “rooted in ven Holl and Norman Foster are the windows to the ponds, and human experience”. in the works. By using a different architect immediately feel like they have Though the architects work more options. each time, Maggie’s Centres enpro-bono, the centres are often “Particularly in Hong Kong, sure each local community gets costly to build. “We want to com- which is very densely inhabited, its own special building. This almunicate to people coming in people find that comforting. The lows them to feel a sense of pride. that their life is of value, that they space makes you feel a lot better, “This also helps us make sure that matter,” says Maggie’s Centres you feel less stressed and less we raise the funds that are neceschief executive Laura Lee, who pressurised,” Lui says. sary to deliver the care that goes was Keswick Jencks’ former onThe design is creative and in- on inside it,” says Lee. cology nurse. Expensive build- novative, says Lui, and that’s imThe interiors are furnished ings made out of quality materi- portant because cancer patients and designed on a centre-byals improve with age rather than can feel helpless and hopeless. centre basis by Lee and Marcia deteriorate, she adds. “Cancer patients feel unproduc- Blakenham, a long-time artist “We tell the architects how we tive because they need to spend a friend of Keswick Jencks and want the spaces to make people lot of money on treatment, and vice-chairwoman of the Maggie’s feel,” says Lee. Put simply, the some need to quit their jobs for a Centres. No two facilities are buildings should be small, uplift- long time,” she says. alike. Art is used to make them ing, welcoming and domestic in “They can feel like a burden feel like home and to provoke scale. They should not patronise on their family and society, and thought. The attention to detail is or daunt, but rather surprise, may not feel like they deserve remarkable. provoke thought and inspire. something good. When they “We go about it in the way you They should be places where come in here, they see that this is would furnish a home,” says Lee. people are able to “maximise a very special place and I think “We buy a few things, see how it their own capacity to cope”. looks and then add the next few this changes their self-image.” The Hong Kong centre has Asked whether famous archi- things rather than going for a been designed as a series of tects are chosen to raise the char- hotel interior approach.” connected buildings with ity’s profile and invaluable funds, When I visited the centre cascading roofs inspired by Chi- Lee says there’s no doubt it helps in London designed by Rogers nese pavilion houses and gar- but that it isn’t really the intent: Stirk Harbour + Partners, I was dens “without being a carica- “We work with architects and struck by the warmth and characture”, says Gehry. It is built across designers who have the maturity ter of the interiors. The floors are a pond and surrounded by a and experience to handle the made of polished concrete and dense landscape of mature trees, brief, because it’s the brief that’s wood, there are generous palms and bamboo. important rather than a piece of amounts of glazing, and the Gehry remembers Keswick signature architecture.” courtyard gardens are filled with Jencks as “a bright and sunny The brief is demanding, but exotic plants. character” with “a real creative also allows the architects a lot of Plush sofas and armchairs spirit and a healthy curiosity”. He conceptual freedom, resulting in were covered in stylish, colourful designed Dundee centre back in some startlingly whimsical or blankets and cushions, the toilets 2003, so he is familiar with her groundbreaking designs. were not partitioned cubicles but stimulating brief. A centre opening in Oxford in rather separate rooms “with a The landscape – designed by early 2014 designed by London- proper door in a door frame” and Keswick Jencks’ daughter Lily – based Wilkinson Eyre architects their “own hand basin”, as directwas key to the project, says Geh- (the designers of the IFC tower in ed by Keswick Jencks in the ry, and it was developed at the Guangzhou) looks like a tree powerful essay she wrote shortly same time as the building. before dying, A View from the house set on stilts. “There is a real synchronicity “The site is in a nature reserve, Front Line. between the two,” says Lily. “What matters is not to lose surrounded by protected “Each room has a differtrees, and the build- the joy of living in the fear of ent view to the garden, ing rests within the dying,” she wrote. The centres or pond, or to a parbeautiful natu- that bear her name make doing ticular tree, or ral setting with- that just a little bit easier. rock.” life@scmp.com The design of the gardens is regarded as being as The number of operational important as the Maggie’s Centres in Britain, building itself. with nine more in the “Looking onto a pipeline green landscape can be good for psychological well-being and a chance to connect to something bigger,” says Lily. “Seeing the seasons change can take you out of yourself.” Dr Raymond Lo See-kit, chief of service at Bradbury Hospice at Sha Tin Hospital and a veteran of palliative care, agrees. “Outdoor gardens and greenery allow recreational and diversional therapy, and an opportunity for patients and families to cherish nature and augment spiritual A model of Maggie’s Centre Hong Kong, designed by Frank Gehry.
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Games can help dyslexia Video games may distract kids from their books, but dyslexic children could actually benefit from playing more of these games, according to a new study in the journal Current Biology. Scientists found that 12 hours of playing action video games did more for reading skills than is normally achieved with a year of spontaneous reading development or demanding traditional reading practise. “Action video games enhance many aspects of visual attention, mainly improving the extraction of information from the environment,” says Andrea Facoetti of the University of Padua in Italy.
Links to childhood asthma Asthma prevalence has increased dramatically over the past 30 years, and researchers at the Columbia Centre for Children’s Environmental Health in New York suggest childhood exposure to a chemical found in some plastics could be contributing to the trend. Exposure to the chemical bisphenol A was measured through urine samples in more than 560 women during the third trimester of pregnancy and in their children aged three, five and seven. The researchers found a link between post-natal exposure to the chemical and more wheezing and asthma.