Music on the Children's Unit

I'd like to share one of the other parts of the music programme at HEFT (Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust). Some talented young volunteers came in to the Children's Ward last week, accompanied by their mom Jackie, to perform some music. Their session on the Children's Ward at Heartlands Hospital made a real difference to the day - a hospital stay involves lots of boredom, anxiety and upset, and music is a really good way of helping to create a lovely atmosphere to try to alleviate these.

Parents and staff, as well as patients, sometimes have a difficult time in hospital and it's important for the welfare of all of them to create an environment that's as free of stress as possible. I think the music and arts programme at HEFT is a really important part of making this happen. Thanks so much to Jackie, Ciara and Niamh for coming in.

Here's what Niamh and Ciara said about their visit:

We were lucky enough to be invited in by Christina to visit the Children's Ward at Heartlands Hospital on 20th February 2013 and play some music. We were made very welcome by the staff, especially Sam the Nursery Nurse.

We were keen to be able to play for the children,  being in hospital can be a very stressful time for sick children and their families and we wanted to provide what we hoped was a  fun and interactive session for young hospital patients and their families.

We played different types of music on the guitar and tin whistle, and sang some  modern pop songs and played some traditional Irish Music. 

It was a really wonderful experience, to see the children joining in and smiling - whilst beating a rhythm with some percussion instruments!!  We do hope to come back again and will learn some more songs that may be familiar to the children to help them feel more 'at home' during their stay in hospital.

Thank you for letting us come and visit.

Ciara and Niamh McCorriston

If you are interested in becoming a music or art volunteer yourself, please get in touch on 0121 424 0113.