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Good Vibrations: Arts-in-medicine programs aim to heal by cutting stress, promoting good feelings
By Kurt Loft
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE TAMPA

When Robyn L'Heureux checked into Tampa General Hospital earlier this
year to receive a new heart, she knew that the road to recovery would
be arduous.

After six weeks, she was back in her Tampa home, on the mend from a
life-saving transplant. But she has more to thank than her doctors
and nurses. Mozart and the Beatles, of all people, played a part in
her return to health.

"You get depressed being in a hospital for that long, and music helps
put you in another world," said L'Heureux, 54. "You forget the aches
and pains, and it raises your spirits."

L'Heureux didn't just listen to recordings; musicians came to her
room and performed live, everything from classical to jazz to pop to
original works. It kept her focused on the positive.

"It just takes you totally out of the hospital to another world," she
said. "One night, I had a five-piece orchestra in my room. And it
didn't bother the other patients. In fact, the musicians would draw a
crowd."

L'Heureux is among thousands of patients across the country who have
participated in hospital arts-in-medicine programs. The point is to
use music, among other art forms, to create a peaceful, healing
environment for the sick.

"And I have not heard one single, negative comment about it," said
Sheela Chokshi, the director of the Integrated Medicine Program at
Tampa General. "It promotes the process of getting away from an
environment of tension. And it has no side effects."

Across town at the Moffitt Cancer Center, a similar program brings
musicians and patients together. Three certified music practitioners
work in the hospital, and often improvise around the patient's mood.

"I prepare myself for each day by trying to become a blank slate so I
can be sensitive to the needs of the patient," said Lloyd Goldstein,
who plays double bass. "It's not about performing, but matching the
patient's energy and mood and making the connection, using music as
the bridge."

Goldstein, who played with The Florida Orchestra for more than 20
years, tried to convey what he calls "remembered wellness" - ushering
the mind into a pleasant state so the body can do what it needs to do
to heal. Although music is not a cure for ailments, Goldstein said,
it helps in the recovery process by pushing aside anxiety.

He said he sees the results every day at the bedside of his listeners.

"It's unbelievably satisfying. It's the greatest work I've been
doing," he said.

Sometimes called music therapy, the technique is more accurately
described as "music as modality." While not a medically accepted
treatment, it certainly is a legitimate way to comfort those in
discomfort, said Cheryl Belander, the coordinator of Moffitt's Arts
in Medicine Program, now in its 10th year.

"The work we do is part of our palliative-care program," she
said. "We bring music to patients, but not for a specific reason. We
bring in music as an expressive art, to soothe, comfort, inspire, to
create a comfort zone, a safe space where the patient can have their
own experience with the music."

Goldstein's idea of "remembered wellness" underscores how music can
be a tonic, Belander said.

"If you are ill, and if you hear music that was a part of your life
when you were strong and healthy, it's uplifting," she said. "It
connects you to that time when you were vibrant."

Live music in a patient's room can be a positive distraction, experts
say, because it helps erase the fears of being in a hospital, the
uncertainty of not knowing what happens next. Calming music, Chokski
said, helps modify the heart rate and breathing.

"It's vibrational energy," she said. "Music vibrations help patients
find an alignment in their healing because a lot of physical
illnesses are based on emotional imbalance."

More and more hospitals are embracing arts-in-medicine programs, and
work with arts groups in finding the right musicians. Ruth Eckerd
Hall, for instance, refers musicians trained in therapeutic music to
the Morton Plant Mease Hospital in Clearwater.

But what musicians play, Goldstein said, is less important than how
they adapt their sounds to the patient.

• Kurt Loft is a reporter for The Tampa Tribune.

Source: http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173354052267&path=!localnews&s=1037645509099