Yoo: Music therapy helps manage pain, improves mood | #PFD
John Gear
Yoo: Music therapy helps manage pain, improves mood | Statesman Journal | statesmanjournal.com
Elena and Gerry Lewin are adventurers. The couple even met under less-than-safe circumstances, when Gerry (pronounced Gary) flexed his macho muscle by insisting on taking Elena home during the night of the 1962 Columbus Day storm.
Gerry remembers the drive took two hours, when under normal circumstances, it would’ve been five minutes. Three days later, he asked Elena out to dinner.
The two led an active lifestyle of hiking, traveling and exploring. Gerry says his favorite spots to visit were Rome and Vienna, because he loves classical music.
Now, the couple hasn’t left home in 14 months, which is hard. Elena has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and is bed bound. But the former Salem Rodeo Queen would rather be on horseback.
Elena started hospice care with nonprofit Willamette Valley Hospice in November 2011. She didn’t have much time left.
Willamette Valley Hospice offers a variety of services — home visits, symptom and pain management, emotional and spiritual support and help for family caregivers — customized to the patients’ needs.
The organization also has two full-time, board-certified music therapists on staff, which is unique in Oregon. Music therapy is not commonly offered in hospices in this state, but research points to benefits in pain management, improved moods and quality of life.
Elena sees music therapist Jessica Shaller-Gerweck once a week.
On a recent Tuesday, inside the Lewins’ beautiful A-frame home in the West Salem woods, Elena asked Jessica for songs that sound like “wind blowing through some trees — or something close to it.”
Jessica strummed her guitar, pondering the challenge. She settled on “What a Wonderful World,” to begin the session and soon, her soothing, airy voice blanketed the living room in a slower, quieter rendition of the Louis Armstrong classic.
Elena’s face softened, and her mouth mirrored Jessica’s as she followed along.
Before the session, Jessica told me Elena’s needs typically are with breathing, pain, anxiety and depression. There are scientific ways to use music to ease those symptoms. But on that Tuesday, Elena was in the mood to reminisce.