Viral Video Demonstrates Power of Music Therapy

This blog recently featured a post about the power of music therapy, and how more and more hospices, including Blue Skies, are integrating music into their care and treatment of patients. A popular video circulating the web demonstrates the affect of music on patients, even those with dementia, more effectively than any words.

The Use of Music in Hospice

One of the purposes of hospice is to bring comfort to the dying and provide loving assistance in their transition into the end-of-life process. Music is a universal healer that speaks the language of the emotions. In the words of jazz critic Stanley Crouch, "it makes the invisible audible."

Music, therefore, can be an invaluable tool in providing aid and comfort to hospice patients. Blues Skies hospice volunteers have used music therapy in their visitation with patients, and part of the volunteer training includes education in the value of music therapy.

The Philadelphia Inquirer recently ran a moving article on a New England hospice that uses music to a great extent in its effort to ease the pain and uplift the emotion of terminal patients.

Terre Mirsch, administrator of Holy Redeemer Hospice, said the value of music as a therapeutic tool has been getting more attention than in the past. Her program makes a point of including alternative treatments like massage and aromatherapy.

Music helps with "life review" - a favorite old song will almost certainly trigger a story - and it soothes people who are often anxious and uncomfortable. "It breaks the fight-or-flight response," Mirsch said.

Claire Fore, a former nun who works as a chaplain for Holy Redeemer, said she realized that music could change her own mood and has used it more and more with clients. She sings and plays an instrument called a QChord Digital SongCard Guitar. As soon as she starts to play, she said, "the facial expression changes. ... The body changes. ... I've had patients say to me they feel like they're in heaven."

There is no single forumla for hospice care. Blues Skies hospice tailors its care to the needs of the patient and her family. When music is helpful, it will use music. The example of the inspiration and comfor that Holy Redeemer hospice provides is one among many of the great meaning and value of hospice.