Community champion, Michael Nesbitt helps kids at HSC Children’s Hospital

It’s not about his kids, grandkids, or even his three great grandkids… for Michael Nesbitt, giving to HSC Children’s Hospital in Manitoba is about good citizenship.

“I do it to help,” says Nesbitt. “It is inherent in being a good citizen in your community that you be responsible and connected to supporting others.”

Nesbitt has funded arts and entertainment in the province for years, including being the primary funder of the concert hall at U of M.  While he doesn’t have a direct connection to a child needing the hospital, he has gifted funds to Children’s Hospital complex care supports, as well as to the Child Life program for Music Therapy.

Nesbitt hopes Music Therapy in Children’s Hospital can be a source of comfort and healing, and stimulation that can support a child during a difficult situation.

“I have great respect for what music does – for the young and the old – for their mental well-being. Music is a universal language. If someone feels isolated, music can be a friend.”

He hopes kids listening to music in hospital may also learn more about it and develop a love for various types of music, including early composers.

Nesbitt also hopes art may be used as a source of healing and inspiration in hospital. He collected his first piece of art in his 20s after his sister, an artist,  gave him money but required him to spend it on art. He has been an avid collector ever since and at age 90 has a collection on his walls of his favourite modern, contemporary, and conceptual art.  A piece his mother painted in the 1970s along with the first piece his sister had him buy are also proudly displayed.

And, having spent Christmas in a hospital bed two years in a row himself, Michael says he now has a much better appreciation for what these kids go through when they need to stay in the hospital for extended periods away from family, friends and the outdoors.

“Kids are coming in from the environment – sun, trees, grasses, stars… but with illness they are suddenly in a sterile room with pale colours. This is a huge change,” says Nesbitt. He wonders if adding colour and art to walls can help mitigate some impact of that change of being in hospital.

“Young children are more vulnerable to the conditions they find themselves in. There is greater sensitivity in young kids.”

He says art could just be simplistic and colourful; it does not need to be what adults understand it as – in frames or distinct images. And it does not require an explanation for kids, because each child will see something different in the colours and shapes and connect it with themselves in a way they understand.

Nesbitt hopes more people get involved in civic duties, community involvement, showing kindness and empathy. “It doesn’t necessarily involve money – it could be giving of one’s time.”

“I supported what the hospital recommended as priority,” says Nesbitt.  He knows his funding of what the hospital needs for improvement is also tied to what helps keep medical expertise in Manitoba; it will keep good health care professionals close to home. He hopes more people will support the need.

“There is wealth in Manitoba  – I’d like to see more people use it to benefit the whole community.”

Children’s Hospital Foundation sincerely thanks Michael Nesbitt for being a supporter of kids in his community who need care at Manitoba’s only children’s Hospital.