A foundation Archa Chantal changes hospitals to a magic world

Another organisation joining the Charitky project is Archa Chantal. The foundation Archa Chantal was established on 11 June 1993 on an initiative of Mrs. Chantal Poullain-Polívková, a charismatic French actress, who has been living in our country for many years. The philosophy of Archa Chantal is humanization of children’s healthcare services.

Mrs. Chantal’s life – that is life full of colours and love, because love belongs especially to children, she decided to create the foundation Archa – an Ark in which she sees a symbol of help and salvage. All efforts aim to create a harmonic environment that will have a positive influence on the psyche of ill children. A child patient becomes a part of a magic world right after cold, unhappy surroundings are transformed into cosy, comfortable places. This game helps children to deal with their hospitalization, ease stress and homesickness. Projects are designed by artists and architects on the basis of requests and special needs from each particular hospital department and together with cooperation with child psychologists, doctors and nurses. All concepts have an original theme and their realization is always a complex interior alteration with emphasis on details – everything is in perfect harmony.

The foundation’s wish is to warm up a cold, impersonal environment by colours, pictures, playrooms, to create for ill children a feeling of safety and ease most of their psychic suffering, fear and homesickness by all available means.
“The reason why I attempt for the realization of all these ideas is simple, in a hospital there should not be treated just a body, but also a sore soul. Peace and harmony are the basic assumptions for a physical health,” said Mrs. Chantal.