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Supportive Music

Where words fail, music speaks

 The Norma Sluizer Music Therapy Fund was established as a designated fund at LightBridge Hospice Community Foundation to support the gift of music and bring joy and peace to hospice patients and their loved ones.  Since the Fund’s inception in 2011, the healing gift of music has been provided in a variety of ways like CDs, MP3 players, and live performances involving volunteers who help celebrate special seasons and holidays and a certified practitioner of therapeutic harp music. 

It has been said that music is a universal language.  Every culture throughout history has enjoyed some form of music, song, and dance.  We use music to celebrate, to grieve, to feel better even to calm and soothe.  Many think of music as a welcome distraction or enjoyable past-time but growing research shows that music has the power to heal.  Music has been shown to ease pain, relieve stress, calm anxiety, improve mood, and enhance the quality of life.

The LightBridge Hospice Community Foundation Supportive Music program enhances the care provided to hospice patients and their families by offering therapeutic music activities such as live performance, access to a library of digital music, personal MP3 players, and seasonal/holiday performance. 

“I was with a patient who had been intubated and in the ICU at Pomerado Hospital for two weeks.  The family decided to take the patient off of all life-sustaining machines.  After the patient was extubated I asked the father what type of music the patient liked.  He stated that a group from Britain, and then remembered it was U2.  I put their music on and put the device on the patient’s pillow.  After a couple of hours, the patient opened his eyes, and after the father stated ”I Love You”  the patient told his father he loved him.  I asked the patient if he wanted the music on and he said “yes”.  Those were the last words the patient spoke as his vital signs started to drop immediately after that.  He passed about 15 minutes later. So touching the power of music!”

~Barbara Jones / Licensed Vocational Nurse