Yamaha Clavinovas Help Bring Comfort and Healing To Fresno's Saint Agnes Medical Center
FRESNO, CA (July 8, 2005) — For more than a decade, Myrna Bolger has helped bring the comfort and healing of music to the community of Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno, California. Using her diverse talents and training in healthcare administration, music and clowning, Bolger serves as Coordinator of the medical center’s Music and Humor Department.
In addition to performing, Bolger oversees roughly a dozen volunteers, including musicians, clowns and patient visitors. In any given day, she offers impromptu performances in a range of styles to patients recovering from or preparing for surgery, as well as those undergoing chemotherapy or other treatments. She and her staff create this healing music on two Yamaha Clavinova digital pianos, located in the lobby and in the Saint Agnes Cancer Center, as well as a Disklavier reproducing grand piano purchased recently through Fresno Piano. The Disklavier was recently placed in the lobby of the medical center’s new expansion in memory of Bolger’s late husband, Richard, as well as two other individuals that had been treated at the facility, Gary Kerkorian and Eldon McMullen.
“To have Yamaha produce these instruments makes me extremely grateful,” she says. According to Bolger, the music created on these instruments has “opened up a whole new world” for both patients and staff. “Things happen that would never have happened without music. It’s made such a difference here. I can’t imagine the facility without it.”
Recognition of music as a wellness therapy has come a long way since Bolger joined the staff of Saint Agnes 18 years ago, when she noticed a tremendous need for humor and music. At the time, there was a singing nun at the hospital, and Bolger offered to accompany her when she visited patients. One time, when Bolger was playing music near a nurse’s station, a co-worker quipped, “You mean you get paid to do this?” Today the attitude has clearly changed, as Bolger keeps a busy schedule of physician referrals, as well as requests from nurses and other staffers asking for help with their patients. Bolger is pleased that the employees, physicians and patients alike now appreciate how music “adds warmth, caring and tenderness” and “changes the feel of the hospital.”
Bolger has also observed countless occasions where music has helped to open up communications between family members and enabled them to express their feelings. She even noted that the presence of music can offer reassurance to anxious patients. She recalls the story of a woman who heard her playing music nearby as she was being wheeled into surgery. “Oh look, they have music here,” she said. “If they have music, they have everything.”
Even the hospital staff has come to enjoy the music program, which they sometimes use as a respite from the stresses of the workday. “It’s so simple,” Bolger states. “People can get so high tech that they forget about high touch.”
While she does not hold a license in music therapy, Bolger has always been forward-thinking about the relationship between music and wellness and the benefits music provides to the Saint Agnes environment. “I’ve got to keep pushing,” she says. Along those lines, Bolger hopes to expand the facility’s offerings to include an innovative group music and wellness program called the Clavinova Connection, which is sponsored by Yamaha and its local retailers.
Recent research has shown that the program reverses the DNA switches that can trigger the human stress response. The sessions use Clavinova digital pianos, along with a scientifically designed program of music and wellness exercises, including breathing and guided imagery. “I am so impressed with the Clavinova Connection,” she recalls. “I burst into tears when I first experienced the program. It captures all that I have been working towards all these years.”
For more information, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Piano Division, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622, telephone (714) 522-9011, or e-mail infostation@yamaha.com.
Myrna Bolger
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“To have Yamaha produce these instruments makes me extremely grateful,” she says. According to Bolger, the music created on these instruments has “opened up a whole new world” for both patients and staff. “Things happen that would never have happened without music. It’s made such a difference here. I can’t imagine the facility without it.”
Recognition of music as a wellness therapy has come a long way since Bolger joined the staff of Saint Agnes 18 years ago, when she noticed a tremendous need for humor and music. At the time, there was a singing nun at the hospital, and Bolger offered to accompany her when she visited patients. One time, when Bolger was playing music near a nurse’s station, a co-worker quipped, “You mean you get paid to do this?” Today the attitude has clearly changed, as Bolger keeps a busy schedule of physician referrals, as well as requests from nurses and other staffers asking for help with their patients. Bolger is pleased that the employees, physicians and patients alike now appreciate how music “adds warmth, caring and tenderness” and “changes the feel of the hospital.”
Bolger has also observed countless occasions where music has helped to open up communications between family members and enabled them to express their feelings. She even noted that the presence of music can offer reassurance to anxious patients. She recalls the story of a woman who heard her playing music nearby as she was being wheeled into surgery. “Oh look, they have music here,” she said. “If they have music, they have everything.”
Even the hospital staff has come to enjoy the music program, which they sometimes use as a respite from the stresses of the workday. “It’s so simple,” Bolger states. “People can get so high tech that they forget about high touch.”
While she does not hold a license in music therapy, Bolger has always been forward-thinking about the relationship between music and wellness and the benefits music provides to the Saint Agnes environment. “I’ve got to keep pushing,” she says. Along those lines, Bolger hopes to expand the facility’s offerings to include an innovative group music and wellness program called the Clavinova Connection, which is sponsored by Yamaha and its local retailers.
Recent research has shown that the program reverses the DNA switches that can trigger the human stress response. The sessions use Clavinova digital pianos, along with a scientifically designed program of music and wellness exercises, including breathing and guided imagery. “I am so impressed with the Clavinova Connection,” she recalls. “I burst into tears when I first experienced the program. It captures all that I have been working towards all these years.”
For more information, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Piano Division, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622, telephone (714) 522-9011, or e-mail infostation@yamaha.com.
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