| Untagged | 11 Apr 2010 |
| Imagine the unthinkable by Mary Turina |
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My husband and I have 3 beautiful children. As a parent, my strongest desire is to keep my children safe, healthy and happy. But what if you couldn’t?
Imagine, over Spring Break, your child crashed their bike and ends up in a coma in the hospital.
Amidst the fear, anxiety and general craziness, you learn to carefully watch the monitors hooked to your child, monitoring their oxygen, heart rate, and blood pressure.
For no apparent reason, your unconscious child’s muscles contract, they appear to be in pain, you cannot console them. Into your room walks a board-certified music therapist who begins playing beautiful, calming music. The anxiety in the room decreases. You notice your child’s heart rate and blood pressure decrease. Muscle contraction reduces. Random movements become purposeful…you may even see your child mouth lyrics to a song. You feel hope, for the first time.
As you walk to the hospital family kitchen, you hear live music from a hallway musician. You walk past an incredible mobile music cart playing a music video. You pass the play room and see hospitalized children having a karaoke party with a CCA volunteer. You realize there is a blanket of music enveloping the hospital. This is Music Rx®.
With only 3.25 staff and 60 volunteers, last year we served over 2,500 kids in 25 children’s units including the Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, CARES Northwest, Oregon Burn Center, Shriner’s, Legacy Salmon Creek, Providence, the Dougy Center, and at home at the bedside of dying children. Since many of the children we serve are hospitalized repeatedly, we serve most children multiple times in one year. Music Rx® is in the hospital 6 days a week, with music therapists going room-to-room and visiting the ICU. CCA professionals can be found serving at the bedside of dying children. Our annual program costs are only $100 per child for bedside service to a hospitalized child.
Last Wednesday, I shared this glimpse into Music Rx® service with over 500 new friends who attended our 7th annual Get Inspired Luncheon at the Governor Hotel. It was an amazing, inspirational day! Thanks to our new friends, we raised over $71,000 to help us prescribe our unique brand of JoyRx.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you!
Mary Turina, CCA’s President & Chief Operating Officer
