Music creates ‘healing atmosphere’

“As humans, we seem to celebrate our lives as if we have a musical soundtrack, and for those of us who perform, music is part of us. It has physical and emotional benefits that are helpful in whole-person health — mind, body, spirit.”

What moves Elvis fans at his tribute shows also moves patients and coworkers at the hospital when he performs.

“The patients sing and clap along and the fun that it brings to a hospital environment creates a positive vibe and a healing atmosphere. You’re focused on the health and well-being of each individual in the room.

“This is not in isolation; I’m not the only one singing. At the hospital, we’re all participating, whether it’s calling out numbers for bingo, or when the Leafs or Blue Jays are doing well, we’re all cheering together.”

Scratch adds: “We all share in the moment with what’s going on in everyone’s lives and trying to get away from any negative aspects of what’s in the news or on television. Enjoying our time together is the focus as staff and patients, and music plays a big role in the dialysis unit.

“We often sing at work. We’ll sing on everybody’s birthday. Patients get a ‘happy birthday’ from the staff. We come out with a cupcake or piece of cake with a candle and we have special decorations to go along with that. On special events, like Christmas and Easter, I sing a bit more.

“What they’re going through isn’t a pleasant experience, but it is necessary for them to endure their treatment and our hospital’s staff is focused on bringing aspects to uplift our patients’ spirits.”

Scratch’s public performances highlight the sound, appearance and movements of Presley, and his stage name pays tribute to his family’s heritage, dating back to the 18th century, when his ancestors settled in Canada, in what is now Essex County, Ontario’s southernmost region along Lake Erie.

“My real name is David Scratch, but when I started performing, I thought I’d spoof the family and use the nickname ‘Davey’ that they gave me as a child, and our forefather’s name, Kratz.

“Leonard Kratz came to Canada from Germany in the 1770s and when he was awarded land as a United Empire Loyalist, the family name was changed from Kratz to Scratch,” he explains.

“I did this for my family’s sake, not realizing at the time that this would blossom into a musical career.”

Scratch began performing as an Elvis tribute artist in 2010, the year he was looking for a new nursing job, as his contract as nurse practitioner in London, Ont., was ending.

Prior to that, Scratch had worked 15 years in the U.S., getting training in intensive care, trauma, pediatric, cardiac and other areas towards achieving his master’s degree.

Whether it was fate, luck or karma, everything came together quickly in the form of a position at Collingwood General, moving to Wasaga Beach, and the start of his singing career.

“Just before moving to Collingwood, I had been invited to a New Year’s Eve gala where they had tribute artists, and it was the first time I’d seen an Elvis tribute artist,” Scratch says. “There were five tribute singers — a Neil Diamond, a Frank Sinatra and three doing Elvis, each highlighting a different phase in his career. The lady who invited me had heard me singing along to the radio in the car and she kept telling me I could do this.

“She was the sponsorship sales coordinator for the Collingwood Elvis Festival and she encouraged me to get involved in a tribute show in London, where I first publicly sang an Elvis song that April.”

In May, he sang at Windsor’s Elvis Fest, and a month later he hit the stage at the Collingwood Elvis Festival, the world’s largest event honouring “the king of rock ’n’ roll.”

Within a year, he was singing with the Casino Brothers Band, the house band with the Collingwood Elvis Festival since 2004, which specializes in backing up Elvis tribute artists from all over the world.

“I have three children and four grandchildren. I almost can’t believe my oldest grandson is 14. I don’t feel my age but I do get reminded when my kids’ birthdays come around,” Scratch says. “I’d have to say that of all my passions, fitness, music and nursing are equally important and they go hand in hand. I’ve always been on the health promotion, wellness and education to empower people to be healthy.”

Scratch has often been to Graceland, Presley’s home and a shrine to his legion of fans, in Memphis, Tenn.

“The experience itself gives you a kind of reawakening.

“It re-establishes in my mind that I’m doing the right thing. There is a positive memory of Elvis that we should celebrate . . . I can see it and feel it when I perform. The more I move, the more people get into it.”

Davey Kratz may have left the building at the end of a show, but David Scratch will be back for another shift in the dialysis unit Monday morning.