Striking A Notable Difference In Healthcare Since 2002

Playing for Her Mother

I was called in by the patient’s daughter, who said, “Can you come play for my mother?  She’s been given last rites, but I know she can hear. She was classically trained.”  I entered the room to find a number of visitors, and the patient was lying peacefully in bed, breathing slowly.  There was a cross on the table next to the bed, and I began with a hymn, moving to other hymns as family members moved closer to her and to each other, some with tears in their eyes.  As I began Amazing Grace, a visitor hummed along.  The patient remained quiet and appeared peaceful.  As other family members arrived, I left with many thanks, and the visitors told the newcomers how so many of the patient’s favorite hymns had been played.  One of them said, “I don’t know how she knew what to play, but those are exactly the ones I would have asked for.”