BILLINGS — On Thursday, pediatric patients at St. Vincent Regional Hospital received music therapy sessions through the Healing Harmonies program.
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Healing Harmonies is one of 13 community outreach programs through the Billings Symphony.
The goal of Healing Harmonies is to bring the power of music therapy to patients.
"It's an opportunity to provide what we consider a social service, a human service," said Billings Symphony Chief Operating Officer Brad Constantine.
The program began in 2018 but saw a decline due to the pandemic.
Now, the program is thriving and has a collaboration with the music therapy team at Intermountain Health.
"It's a really nice way to kind of keep kids distracted from the scary things that sometimes happen in the hospital," said Intermountain Health Music Therapist Brooke Wagner.
As opposed to a traditional musician, Wagner says music therapists must have a four-year degree, become board certified, and renew their license every five years.
Her favorite part about being a music therapist is bringing joy to her pediatric patients.
"Seeing a smile on the face of a child who maybe hasn't smiled since they've been in the hospital, (is my favorite part)," Wagner said Thursday.
Musicians with Healing Harmonies play at multiple hospitals, nursing homes and infusions centers.
"I never would've imagined doing this. I'm so grateful that I have an opportunity to do this," said cello player Marley Ball.
Ball said she tries to play to the pediatric patients at least once a week. She says she loves to bring joy to the children at a time when happiness may be hard to find.
"I loved it. I loved seeing their faces and seeing them react and dance along to the music," Ball said Thursday.
Besides bringing joy to the patients, music also accesses a part in the brain that typical medicine may not, according to Wagner.
"Music is processed all over your brain. So, if one part of your brain is damaged through a traumatic brain injury or a stroke, or dementia, we can still access other parts of the brain through music," Wagner said.
It's a beneficial and joyous time when the musicians visit, connecting caregivers to patients one note at a time.
"Music is a nice way to remind them that they're still kids," Wagner said.
