“Music is the shorthand of emotion.” ― Leo Tolstoy
Sometimes words are not enough. Perhaps that is the reason why many nurses are finding that music can reach into the hearts of the patients that they care for. In a recent YouTube video of a nurse singing as her patient gets his cancer treatment, nurse Alex Collazo hands her guitar over, and the two sing a beautiful duet of “O Holy Night.” She reaches into the heart of just one patient, but the video has touched more than one, it has affected all of us who view it. In one of the darkest hours of this man’s life the simple act of kindness brings to light the story of a nurse who sees the whole person she is caring for. In the story Alex Collazo says, “Everything we do is for our patients. Keep speaking love, being kind to one another. That moment could change someone’s life.”
That sentiment is shared by other nurses as they sing to their patients. As a nurse who sings to an elderly woman as he gives her pain medication says, “It is easy to turn on the TV and walk away. It is personal if you can sit down and talk with them, or sing to them.” Nurse Jared Axen says it is a way to connect with his patients, and because of the comfort that it brings he reports that his patients request less pain medication. He is known as “The Singing Nurse.”
Another nurse who has used music in her practice of nursing sings to an elderly man who is having trouble breathing. In the video she is singing to her hospice patient. Brenda Buurstra says, “I have been singing to my patients for 14 years. This is the first time I got caught.” After finding out what his favorite song is she went home and printed out the words. The next day he is seen singing with her by the end of the song. He was able to go home again on hospice care. His daughter believes it was because of the comfort he received from the song.
Sometimes the contrast of the young and old is especially poignant. An elderly woman is listening and visibly relaxing as two younger nurses sit by her bedside as they sing and provide care.
A young patient who has to miss a concert because of her cancer diagnosis is treated to an impromptu concert Back Street Boys style since she couldn’t see them in person.
Sometimes it is the patients that serenade the nurses.
As nurses find, they are often there for the most profound moments that life gives us. For the nurses that sing, music is the serenade that soothes the soul of those they care for when sometimes words can fail. And for the patients that sing to us us, Thank you for that gift. The moment that we have shared was just a moment, but it has a profound impact in our lives.
