ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Rochester Regional Health is now offering music therapy to patients with serious and complicated health issues to help manage their stress and pain.

Kim Best, a music therapist, visits patients in the palliative care unit at Rochester General Hospital, pulling her cart full of instruments. One of her stops is Charlie’s room, who lights up when he sees her and joins in singing an old hymn he requested.

“We take the research behind music and the brain and the body and the responses and we kind of use it all to our advantage to help people get better or improve skills or help people feel better,” Best says.

Music therapy is new in this unit, and it’s not just about bringing patients happiness and nostalgia. There is scientific evidence that it works in other ways too.

“Palliative medicine is really helping people live with serious illness, often times they’re still getting aggressive treatments, chemotherapy, aggressive heart therapies, and other interventions,” says Dr. Adam Herman, Director of Palliative Medicine and Hospice Care at Rochester Regional Health. “Music therapy is a complementary component to address symptoms and has been shown to help with pain management. It helps distract, it helps lower anxiety, it helps decrease stress, and if you’re doing those things you can actually engage in your health care plan and your program of treatments better.”

Another patient, Judy, also looks forward to Best’s weekly visits. She’s living with a terminal illness but today, life was made a little easier with the tap of the toes and the maraca, an intentional instrument given to help with her grip.

“It brings me joy every single day, it feels like I’m doing magic sometimes with some of the things that we see, people walking when they had so much trouble walking, if you give them a good beat and a fun song and they’re walking no problem,” Best says. “Or, someone with dementia who can’t communicate what they need and what they want, and yet they’re singing all the lyrics of their favorite song and then their communication kind of opens up a little bit.”

The cost of the music therapy is covered by the health system. It’s keeping data on patient response and outcomes but by the look and sound of things, it’s something these patients are clearly benefiting from.

Right now, Best is the only music therapist at Rochester General Hospital but it may be looking to expand the program in the future.

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