Music helps soothe patients with COVID-19

Hospitals are offering free, one-on-one concerts played virtually via iPad by string musicians all over the country.

For dozens of San Diego patients now hospitalized with coronavirus, music is proving to be a soothing treatment for worn-down spirits, agitation and fatigue.

Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego in Hillcrest and UC San Diego Health facilities are among a growing number of hospitals nationwide offering COVID-19 patients free, one-on-one private concerts played virtually via iPad by string musicians all over the country.

The concerts are presented through Project: Music Heals Us, a 6-year-old nonprofit in New York that produces classical concerts in nontraditional locations such as nursing homes, homeless centers and correctional facilities.

Truong-Giang Huynh, the ICU manager at Scripps Mercy, has seen the therapeutic results of these short concerts firsthand. A violinist himself, he said he’s watched with admiration how the brief musical interactions affects the COVID-19 patients.

Huynh said he has seen recently extubated patients, who are so agitated that their arms are strapped down to keep them from pulling out IVs and other tubes, suddenly sit still. And he saw a dying woman who had become unresponsive open her eyes when a violinist started to play.

The program is just as beneficial for the musicians, whose concert bookings have all been canceled for the year. They receive a $100 honorarium per three-hour session, but cellist Andrew Janss said most of them would be willing to work for free because performing for the patients offers them a way to use their talents to help others.

The PMHU program was brought to Scripps Mercy by Dr. Valerie Norton, who is the hospital’s chief physician operations executive. Through a fellow musician she heard about the program and thought it would be a great way to provide a personalized service for the lonely and isolated COVID-19 patients.

“In our hospital, we’ve always had complimentary healing touch, pet therapy, aromatherapy and some music therapy services for patients. But all of those were put on hold because, with COVID, we can’t allow any non-essential people in the hospital,” said Norton.

“This felt like a ray of sunshine I could bring in,” she said.

‘But all of those (alternative treatments) were put on hold because, with COVID, we can’t allow any non-essential people in the hospital. This felt like a ray of sunshine I could bring in.’ Dr. Valerie Norton Scripps Mercy Hospital

CONTRIBUTED Cellist Andrew Janss performs a virtual concert for Project: Music Heals Us, a 6-year-old nonprofit in New York that produces classical concerts in nontraditional locations.