Music is medicine at some Sacramento County hospitals

In the sun-lit chapel of Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael, four Certified Music Practitioners performed Christmas carols. The holiday concert was a way for the musicians to introduce themselves to the patients at the hospital — the concert was being broadcast on the facility’s closed-circuit system. 

The performers were also getting acquainted with the space — it was the first time many of them had been to San Juan. The music practitioner program is expanding, after almost 16 years of success at Mercy General Hospital in East Sacramento. 

“We're hoping to get to all the hospitals eventually,” said Chaplain William Ferguson, who helps run the program. He said in addition to hours at Woodland Memorial Hospital, there’s hope the musicians will be able to play for the cancer clinic and the bereavement group. 

Music Practitioner Mary Superak, otherwise known as “Music Mary,” told the audience that the concert was a special treat. Normally, Certified Music Practitioners are not at the hospital to entertain. Their purpose is more therapeutic, and intimate, at the bedside of patients. 

“They play to the natural rhythms of the body, breathing, the heart,” said Ferguson. “They could affect many different clinical outcomes.”

A quartet of Certified Music Practitioners, including Mary Superak, Carol Ng, Nick Sternad and Richard March, perform Christmas carols in the chapel at Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. The holiday concert was broadcast live to the hospital's patients.Claire Morgan/CapRadio

Research shows music can lower blood pressure and reduce pain. Ferguson said the musicians often put people to sleep and help premature babies relax.

“They even have a key to help people …Well, they call it the poop key, to help them void when they can't,” he said. 

Certified Music Practitioners are different from music therapists, who normally have a bachelor’s or master's degree in the field and work long-term with a patient to achieve a specific physical or psychological goal. 

Music practitioners are there to provide tailored relief, for patients and, often, families and staff. Superak says she remembers playing in the intensive care unit for a patient who was at the end of their life, surrounded by 50 family members.

“They were all being moved because they began to experience what they're going through because the music is allowing that,” she said. 

Music Practitioners Mary Superak and Carol Ng perform in a holiday concert broadcast to patients at the Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023.Claire Morgan/CapRadio

After the concert, Superak and harpist Carol Ng wheeled their instruments through the hospital and up to the oncology floor. 

There, they met Woodland resident Juan Terán. His daughter, Veronica Diaz, sat by his side. Terán was on his 10th day of a hospital stay after months of cycling in and out for cancer treatment. 

Although Terán didn’t speak much English, and the musicians, not much Spanish, they didn’t need either to connect. Superak brought out her acoustic guitar and vocalized along with Ng’s harp. As the musicians finished up, the father and daughter expressed their gratitude. 

“It really helps his spirit — it lifts his spirit,” Diaz said, translating for her father. “He said he felt a lot of relief on his soul.”