Blessed: Bringing pleasure, contentment, good fortune
| Type of post: | Chorus news item |
| Sub-type: | No sub-type |
| Posted By: | Sam English |
| Status: | Current |
| Date Posted: | Sun, Oct 13 2024 |
Blessed: Bringing pleasure, contentment, good fortune
We often remark that we “never know what to expect” with our biweekly visits to AliveHospice. However, to bring or receive some pleasure or contentment is always our “no-plan” plan.
When we arrived for our visit on October 9th, we assembled in the Chapel for our warm-up, where we were met by our friend Julie, the Volunteer Coordinator. Julie greeted us with a mixture of a wonderful smile as well as a portion of sadness, which unfortunately we also saw on the faces of the staff. That “sadness” was because, by 11:00 a.m. that morning they had lost 5 of their patients AND over the previous weekend 14 patients had also transitioned! Although, their patients understandably are in their care to go through this process, this was an uncommon and unexpected occasion.
However, we must turn to that wonderful smile on Julie’s face for just a moment. Julie greeted us with “I just couldn’t wait to tell you guys what had happened the last time you were here.” This happened during our visit on September 25th. We had all been so touched and blessed on that visit, that as we were leaving, I was moved to suggest and commence with a “group hug” and that soon became a prayer of thanks led by ourBill Munn.
What we did not know at that time, Julie shared with us today. The last song we had sung for a patient during the previous visit was “The Irish Blessing.” Directly across the hall a volunteer was comforting, reading to, and holding hands with Mr. B who we had visited 2 or 3 times in the past. Mr. B was non-communicative in transition other than his eyes and hand-holding. The doors to both rooms were open. As we were singing “The Irish Blessing” the volunteer stopped reading and whispered to Mister B “Oh, listen. They are singing your favorite song!” Mister B looked at the volunteer, squeezed her hand, and at that moment his transition was complete. 🙏
Moments like this are beyond description and remind each one of the Nashville Music Medics and the Hospice volunteers and staff why we do what we do with the passion we all share.
Of course we visited a few patients after Julie shared this with us. Due to this recent number of deaths, we were also successful delivering some contentment and pleasure to the staff and volunteers as we “made our rounds with Julie.”
We were able to deliver our outreach in song to a few nursing students who were gathered in the break room
as well as surprise a brand new volunteer, Carolina, with “the Carolina Song.”
Imagine her surprise during her first day on the job, in training, she is approached by ten men in blue scrubs with a one-of-a-kind welcome!
We also provided “The Sherrie Song” to the new receptionist on our way in for our visit and “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” as we passed the reception desk on our way out!
IT IS GREAT TO BE A NASHVILLE MUSIC MEDIC, “CHANGING THE WORLD ONE SMILE AT A TIME”!
By Sam English for The Nashville Music Medics.
