Jennifer Budd, Occupational Therapist

The article describes how music has been integrated into spiritual and supportive care for palliative care patients at Brantford General Hospital (Ontario). Numerous case examples illustrate how a song or piece of music can play a vital role in the spiritual dimension of end of life care. The article expands the concept of the “living human document ” by positing that a life story has an accompanying soundtrack: a musical memory and sensorial attunement that can be energized when music is offered at the bedside. The writers suggest that music provides an alternate spiritual language for patients whether or not they have a religious affiliation. The power of music to integrate and cure is quite fundamental. It is the profoundest nonchemical medication. Oliver Sacks, "Awakenings " (1980) The hills are alive with the sound of music With songs they have sung for a thousand years The hills fill my heart with the sound of music My heart wants to sing every song it hears