In some of Palm Beach County’s hospitals, the sound of music isn’t limited to the standard recorded fare we’ve come to expect while riding elevators.
No, the live musical stylings of some accomplished local performers are actually filling the hallways and patients’ rooms, helping create a more positive, healing experience for all who hear them — patients, visitors and staffers alike.
This was the vision of the Healing Arts Project, which was founded in late 2021 by South Florida community activist and professional trumpeter Jeff Kaye, along with his wife Joanna Marie Kaye, a professional singer and executive director of Festival of the Arts Boca.
The Kayes are longtime Boca Raton residents who wanted to bring live music into area hospitals to ease stress, lift spirits, and nurture recovery for patients, families, and health-care providers.
“As a musician, I’ve spent a lifetime on concert stages, but nothing compares to playing a quiet melody at a patient’s bedside,” Jeff Kaye said. “You can feel the stress lift from the room. And that’s the power of music — it connects us instantly, it comforts, and it heals in ways that words cannot.”
The couple launched their initiative at Boca Raton Regional Hospital after COVID-19 restrictions started to ease. It debuted with a special staff event, then steadily expanded into new spaces: parking garages, waiting rooms, nursing stations, the main lobby and, ultimately, private performances in patient rooms.
Boca Raton Regional Hospital estimates that the nonprofit program has already touched the lives of more than 4,000 people through bedside visits, lobby performances, and staff wellness sessions. It is now also available at Bethesda Hospital in Boynton Beach, and the Kayes say there are plans to expand into senior-care facilities, rehabilitation centers, and community health organizations.
Joanna Marie Kaye explained that while their early performances started as a brief uplifting moment for hospital frontline workers, they have since grown into an integral part of the healing process for patients of all ages.
“There’s a moment we see over and over again — a patient’s eyes light up, a smile spreads, a toe starts tapping, or a tear comes to their eye,” she said. “Those connections remind us that healing isn’t only physical — it’s also deeply emotional.”
Backed by research
Research supports what the Healing Arts Project is attempting to deliver to patients, hospital visitors and health-care workers.
A 2024 report in the Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine noted thatnearly 45% of patients described live bedside music as calming and 37% found it uplifting These findings echo the anecdotal impact seen at the hospitals where the program has been implemented.
Proponents of live musical performances in medical settings also cite copious clinical research that suggests it may do the following:
“When we engage with the arts — either actively or receptively — we can experience a range of physiological and hormonal responses,” said Dr. Jill Sonke, a research professor and director of Research Initiatives in the Center for Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida.
This can include increased production of endorphins (a natural painkiller), dopamine (which creates joy when we receive a reward), serotonin (which regulates and uplifts our mood), and oxytocin (our “bonding” hormone) — as well as a reduction in the stress hormone cortisol.
Expanding their reach
Jeff and Joanne Marie Kaye have enlisted many of their friends and colleagues in the music industry to help expand Healing Arts Project’s reach. Musicians who work with Healing Arts Project are chosen for their talent, empathy, and desire to uplift others through music. They’re trained to connect with patients and families, and to tailor each performance to reflect individual moods and preferences. Beyond the music, the Kayes prioritize having their surrogates offer warmth, encouragement, and genuine companionship to patients, loved ones, and staff.
Health-care providers and patients who have been touched by the work being done by Healing Arts Project don’t need any convincing about the program’s efficacy.
“Our Healing through Music Program done in partnership with Healing Arts Project has transformed the Infusion Center into a space filled with happiness, harmony, and healing,’’ said nurse Tamika Prince, the patient care supervisor at Bethesda Hospital East’s Endoscopy and Infusion Services. “It has been extraordinarily life-changing to bring this kind of comfort and joy to our patients, as well as lifting the spirits of our team members.”
Dr. Thomas Doyle echoed Prince’s sentiments, noting that “the folks who came and gave us the gift of music provided a much-needed lift to us. Healing takes on several forms — including physical, spiritual, and emotional. The music helped us take our minds off of the difficulty we are facing and that’s why I feel this program is invaluable.”
Patients and their loved ones are also unanimous in their positive feedback for the program.
“I was in the hospital, feeling blue, when along came someone playing a flamenco guitar, and a beautiful lady [Joanna Marie Kaye] singing. It brightened the day and made me feel so much better,” said Paola McDonald.
“What a terrific surprise it was to have this fantastic entertainment,” said Patricia Bradley. “It was so wonderful to see my 92-year-old mother with a huge smile on her face while in her hospital bed.”
For one patient — Irma Corrigan — the couple’s performance was the ideal way to conclude her hospital stay with an enduring sense of positivity: “I was waiting to get discharged when Healing Arts stopped by my room,” she recalled. “They performed a wonderful song to help me celebrate my departure!”
Such feedback is why it’s safe to say that the Kayes are accomplishing their mission of “healing mind, body and soul one note at a time.”
Steve Dorfman is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. He writes about all aspects of health, fitness and wellness. If you have news tips, please send them to sdorfman@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Music as medicine: Live local shows help heal hospital patients
Reporting by Steve Dorfman, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
