Music has been said to be medicine to the mind, body, and soul. Now it’s exactly the type of medication that’s being administered to boost the morale of New York healthcare workers at the epicenter of the US coronavirus crisis.
Daily infusions of upbeat songs from The Beatles’ classic “Here Comes the Sun” to the theme from the hang-tough movie “Rocky” are being pumped through hospital public address systems to boost the spirits of nurses, doctors and support staff.
At one of Mount Sinai’s hospitals in New York City, a 4:30 pm daily dose of Australian pop singer Starley’s “Call On Me” is giving strength to staff, who clap as a growing number of patients are discharged from the overwhelmed facility across the street from Columbia University.
In New Jersey, the “Rocky” theme song filled the air at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Paterson when the hospital’s director of emergency preparedness was discharged last week as he recovered from the virus, rolling in his wheelchair past cheering staff.
On New York’s Long Island, the joyful “Here Comes the Sun” blasts overhead on the public address system at Mount Sinai South Nassau every time a COVID-19 patient is discharged. In Detroit, one of the newest U.S. hot spots for the fast-spreading disease, a Beaumont Health nurse said the 1969 Beatles hit was played not just when patients are discharged but each time they are taken off a ventilator to breath on their own.
