A Beautiful Witness

By Charleston Southern on August 15, 2011 - 1:05 pm in Serving / no comments

Polly Hunter props up her bright pink laptop on a small coffee table beside Ms. N, announces she has a surprise and plugs in an external speaker. Out bursts the chorus to Swanee River.

“Is that the song your mom used to sing to you Ms. N?” asks Hunter.

“Yes ma’am, I believe it is,” said Ms. N.

Hunter, a music therapy student, is just beginning her weekly clinical visit with the 94-year old Hospice patient. Hunter lifts her acoustic guitar from her beaten, black case and sits on the couch across from Ms. N as she affectionately called her.

For the next hour and 15 minutes Hunter and Ms. N laugh and sing songs from Ms. N’s childhood.

“When I’m singing with patients it’s all therapeutic; it’s all about them,” said Hunter after the session. “It’s a glimpse into how they’re feeling, and maybe into their past. It’s a fabulous way to share, connect with her through music … Is she feeling ok? Is she enjoying where the song is going? Does she not want to go where the song is taking her in her mind? It’s very reciprocal.”

Hunter and Ms. N sing When We All Get to Heaven and Shall We Gather at the River before Ms. N announces her throat is sore.

Without a fuss, Hunter switches gears and tells Ms. N to get comfortable and she will sing to her. By the time Hunter reaches the chorus of The Old Rugged Cross, Ms. N is singing along again.

Ms. N’s voice is getting stronger as they reach the chorus of In the Sweet Bye and Bye. After, Ms. N confesses her mother used to sing that song to her too, when she was a child. “She was sure there was a sweet bye and bye for her someplace,” she whispers.

“Keep a going,” Ms. N tells Hunter, approvingly. “I sure love to hear you sing.”
“ It …,” Hunter says, pausing to collect herself. “It takes my breath away. It’s just beautiful. It’s a beautiful witness, especially with a woman I’ve gotten so attached to. This woman is a woman of such tremendous faith and when she raises her hand and begins to worship, there’s nothing like it. I feel like this is holy ground. I feel like this is such an honor and privilege to be with her. It touches my heart very deeply.”

Hunter earned her undergraduate degree in music (vocal performance). After completing her degree and later starting a family, she decided to return to college to get her degree equivalency in music therapy at Charleston Southern University.

The equivalency music therapy program is for students who already have a bachelor’s degree in a related field who come to CSU to take only the courses necessary (including the minimum of 180 clinical hours, followed by internship).

By the time she completes her clinical internship work, Hunter will have completed approximately six months (and 1200 clinical hours) before taking the national music therapy board exam. Those who pass the board exam are then considered board certified music therapists (MT-BC).

For just over two months, every Tuesday around 12:30 Hunter pulls up to a modest brick house in a North Charleston subdivision. “It’s like a fast-forward in a friendship,” she said later. “You get to know so much about them one session at a time. You get to know them and their families so quickly in such a short time.

“I get to know their likes, their interests, their past and the things going on in their hearts right now. The things that are on their minds, especially during this precious time; I connect with them as a therapist, a musician and as a friend.”

Two more songs: Swing Low Sweet Chariot and Irish Blessing fill the room.

“She is so happy on the days she knows they (Hunter and Dr. Julie Stordahl) are coming,” said Ms. N’s daughter Dorothy, who sang along with each song.
“ I believe this is such a precious honor to have this time with Hospice patients who are in their last months of life,” Hunter said after the session. “I feel it’s a tremendous honor and privilege to go in and get to know their families; get to learn their music; get to speak their musical language with them. It’s priceless.”
Hunter and Ms. N pause for a photo after the session. A smile 94-years wide stretches across Ms. N’s face. Clinical: 1,200 hours. Class: 180 hours. A smile from Ms. N after music therapy: priceless.

CSU students serving in the Community

Charleston Southern students enrolled in the music therapy program participate in clinical settings across the tricounty area including:

• Medical University of South Carolina: (1) co-treating individual clients with medical and developmental needs with occupational & physical & speech therapists; (2) psychiatric group treatment
• Trident Medical Center and Summerville Medical Center Special Care Nurseries (developmental intervention with premature infants and their parents),
• North Charleston Elementary (1) Preschool Intervention, (2 & 3) two Hearing Impaired, and (4 & 5) two Autism Classrooms,
• Fort Dorchester Elementary (school age children with profound/multiple disabilities)
• HealthSouth rehabilitation hospital
• LifeCare of Charleston (a group for senior adults with Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia)
• My Sister’s House (domestic violence shelter group for women)
• Carolina Youth Development Center (crisis intervention / psychosocial issues with adolescents in foster care)
• Palmetto Summerville Behavioral Health (adolescent psych, including male children and adolescents with oppositional defiant and conduct disorders, as well as adolescent males who are known sex offenders)
• Coastal Center (residential facility for adults with developmental disabilities)
• Charleston Cancer Center (outpatient chemotherapy)
• Trident Medical Center (general medical)
• Solaris Hospice
• Piedmont Hospice

Tags: Julie Stordahl Music Therapy Polly Hunter