baylor scott & white health Health Care Reimagined musical medicine
Anthony Arant was a middle school teacher in Alaska in 2013. That summer, he visited his 90-year-old mother, who has Alzheimer’ s disease, in her nursing home. She was having a terrible day and hardly talked. He had an idea.
Anthony sat his mother in a chair next to the home’ s piano and played“ Sunny Side of the Street.” She immediately sat up and started tapping her foot. As he continued playing songs from her era, she talked about the music and the memories it brought back.“ It was a remarkable experience,” Anthony said.“ On the flight home I decided that this is what I want to do.”
He completed a rigorous clinical musician certification program and moved to Farmers Branch to be near his children and grandchildren. He now rolls his piano around Baylor University Medical Center’ s hospitals and plays for patients at their bedsides.
When doctors and nurses prescribe music for their patients, Anthony determines the most meaningful songs to play from the hundreds he has memorized.“ The music is also very meaningful to family and visitors, especially in end-of-life cases,” he said.“ Families are in a heartbreaking situation, and the music often allows them to cry. That’ s very powerful.”
The therapeutic music is part of the Arts in Medicine Program at the Virginia R. Cvetko Patient Education & Support Center in the Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center at Dallas. Nearly 12,000 patients receive treatment annually at the Center. More than half of them take advantage of the program.
Along with Arts in Medicine Program personnel, Center staff include a medical director, program manager, nurse educator, chaplains, social workers, a psychologist and trained cancer survivor volunteers. There are 13 support groups tailored to specific types of cancer. Classes— all free— include yoga, meditation and healthy cooking. Participants also learn how to deal with the side effects of treatment.
“ Trust is being placed in me to be with patients at their most vulnerable and scary times. I’ m honored by that.”
— Anothony Arant
Doctors and nurses prescribe music as one of the therapies patients receive through the Arts in Medicine Program at the Baylor Sammons Cancer Center.
5