Music to Mend By

INDIANAPOLIS--Aaron Swann's spiked hair is one of the few things that makes him feel like a typical teen-ager these days.

Music therapy is another.

The 17-year-old Anderson resident spends his days trying to get used to the monotony of immobility after being paralyzed in an accident last year.

But his expression changed from melancholy to spirited when music therapist Jan Schreibman walked into his Methodist Hospital room with a keyboard.

After his head was propped up with a pillow, the instrument was placed carefully on white sheets covering his thighs. Although he has limited use of his arms, can't move his fingers from their clenched positions, and had undergone a lengthy surgery the day before, he smiled and said, "I'm sore today. But I'll give it a try."

As Aaron used the sides of his knuckles to play familiar tunes including "Amazing Grace" and "Heart and Soul," several nurses and others nearby smiled. Aaron basked in the attention he was commanding.

That is just one example of the impact the hospital's new music therapy program is having on infants to 18-year-olds who are patients in its Child Life Department.

Music therapy is the use of music as medical treatment. Music is used to restore, maintain, or improve emotional or physical abilities. Methodist is the first hospital in Indiana to offer the therapy as part of ongoing treatment for youngsters with serious injuries or illnesses.

In September, the department will celebrate the program's first anniversary, and its success.

"It's exceeded my expectations," said psychologist James L. Jones, who manages the department. The therapy helps to make the children's hospital stays less stressful and more comfortable.

"We've seen children who have been in pain not express as much difficulty with pain," Jones said. "We have seen children in the rehab process feel good about their accomplishments."

Music therapy complements other therapies and treatment, said Schreibman, who has worked one-on-one with many of the children since the program started. Right now, she squeezes hours of treatment into a part-time schedule, but Jones is hoping that more grants and funding will enable the hospital to have a full-time therapist. Makes a difference.

To gauge the program's success in helping patients feel better, they were surveyed, using a pain-management scale. In the survey, 90 percent of patients said music therapy reduced their pain to some extent.

Aaron agrees that the program helps him.

Though his body is stilled by paralysis, thoughts race through his mind: concern for his mother, recently diagnosed with cancer; worries about paying his lifelong medical expenses; hopes that a cure will be found for paralysis.

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