{"id":1953,"date":"2019-02-28T20:09:11","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T20:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mc.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltmedicine\/?p=1953"},"modified":"2021-08-11T19:36:25","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T19:36:25","slug":"young-heart-patient-care-team-bond-through-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/young-heart-patient-care-team-bond-through-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Young heart patient, care team bond through music"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
During a recent clinic visit, pediatric cardiology patient Sydney Andrade-Rubio, left, enjoyed a ukulele session with, from left, recording artist Alyssa Bonagura, Justin Godown, MD, and Frank Fish, MD. Photo by Steve Green.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sydney Andrade-Rubio usually brings her ukulele during hospital stays and clinic visits at Monroe Carell Jr. Children\u2019s Hospital at Vanderbilt.<\/p>\n

The 15-year-old likes to pass the time strumming the four-string instrument, humming tunes and sometimes playing along with her cardiologist, Frank Fish, MD.<\/p>\n

Music has been the bridge Fish used to help him connect with his teenage patient who was recently diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a disease in which the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick, making it harder for the heart to pump blood. It is a common cause of sudden death in young people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always try to connect with my patients on some level to find something we can talk about,\u201d said Fish. \u201cWhen she said she liked music, playing the guitar and was learning to play the ukulele, I immediately showed her a video clip of my friend playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe lit up. It didn\u2019t erase what was going on with her, but it was a connection we made to help in our interactions and discussions. On her next hospitalization I brought my bass ukulele and we played.\u201d<\/p>\n

From that point on, Fish and Sydney have used music to help move through the tough discussions and sometimes to not talk at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so apparent that she was frightened and anxious about her diagnosis,\u201d said Fish. \u201cIn her case, music was the connection that we have, and we are able to relate through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a recent clinic visit, Fish surprised Sydney with a special guest and jam session.<\/p>\n

Recording artist Alyssa Bonagura, with The Sisterhood Band, showed up to play with Sydney, Fish and transplant cardiologist Justin Godown, MD. Bonagura was the artist featured in the video clip that Fish shared with Sydney during the earlier visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cMusic is so healing,\u201d said Bonagura. \u201cWe\u2019re given a gift so we can share it, and I hope I am able to make someone smile through my music. In hard times we must create our own happiness. It feels good to be able to bring a little joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Bonagura walked in, Sydney was in awe. The pair, along with her physicians, played one of Bonagura\u2019s hit songs \u201cI Make My Own Sunshine,\u201d as well as other tunes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was awesome with a capital A,\u201d beamed Sydney. \u201cI was so surprised, and it was so amazing. Music really is inspiring and helps me through tough times. It was so thoughtful of my doctor to do this for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sydney, who is currently on the waiting list for a heart transplant, was brought to Children\u2019s Hospital in August 2018 after suffering a cardiac arrest at school. Thankfully, her school had achieved Heart Safe status by working with Project ADAM (Automated Defibrillators in Adam\u2019s Memory), a national organization committed to making schools \u201cHeart Safe\u201d by preventing sudden cardiac arrest in children and teens through education and life-saving programs.<\/p>\n

Children\u2019s Hospital became an affiliate of Project ADAM in 2017 and assists schools in the Middle Tennessee area to achieve Heart Safe certification. It joined East Tennessee Children\u2019s Hospital in Knoxville as the second affiliation in the state. Project ADAM focuses on ensuring that schools and communities are not only equipped with automated external defibrillators (AEDs) but also trained in prevention measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cPatients like Sydney are surviving because of the presence of AEDs in schools and the ability of the school to recognize and respond to cardiac arrests,\u201d said English Flack, MD, assistant professor of Pediatric Cardiology and medical director of Project ADAM Middle Tennessee. \u201cSurvival rates decrease by 10 percent with each minute of delayed defibrillation after cardiac arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of that is music to Sydney\u2019s mother\u2019s ears, who is thankful for the immediate response that saved her daughter as well as the continued care Sydney receives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m blown away by the excellent care that Sydney has been given at the hospital, the kindness of the nurses, doctors and volunteers,\u201d said Xochil Rubio. \u201cMusic brings Sydney healing at a deeper level.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrs. Fish and Godown have been very supportive of Sydney. Thanks to music, she had a lot of fun during her stay at the hospital. Some nurses from the cardiac floor where Sydney stayed also play ukulele and sang with her. As her mom, I\u2019m very grateful to everybody in cardiology and to Alyssa Bonagura for her kindness.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sydney Andrade-Rubio usually brings her ukulele during hospital stays and clinic visits at Monroe Carell Jr. Children\u2019s Hospital at Vanderbilt. The 15-year-old likes to pass the time strumming the four-string instrument, humming tunes and sometimes playing along with her cardiologist, Frank Fish, MD. Music has been the bridge Fish used to help him connect with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[11,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vm-around-the-medical-center","category-winter-2019"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcDnub-vv","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/220"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2982,"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953\/revisions\/2982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medschool.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbilt-medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}