Musician eases pain, anxiety of patients

Rebecca Heller, a Tempe-based communication consultant serving a non-profit and music-related clientele, submitted this article about a Peoria resident.

Colleen Politi knew it would be a long and stressful surgery, for both the patient and the operating team.

Throughout the four-hour surgery, the Peoria resident kept a watchful eye on the patient's vital signs as she monitored the anesthesia. Usually during such a procedure, she said, it is difficult to maintain steady heart and breathing rhythms.

"After an hour or so, I noticed that the heart and breathing rates were remaining extremely steady," she said. "In fact, the monitors were hardly changing at all."

Politi manually checked the vital signs, confirming that the equipment readings were correct.

The patient that day was a large female pit bull who had severely injured both hind legs playing with a flying disc and needed extensive, high-risk surgery. It differed from other canine surgeries in that Politi played recorded harp music with calm, steady rhythms in the operating room during the procedure.

The monitoring equipment validated what Politi learned about the intrinsic healing value of music during her studies to become a Certified Clinical Musician (not to be confused with a music therapist).

She is specially trained and certified in the art and science of music by one of several programs that are approved and accredited by the National Standards Board for Therapeutic Musicians (www.therapeuticmusician.com).

Politi can be found playing Celtic harp at the bedside of patients in home, hospice or hospital settings when she is not working as a veterinary technician at Arrow Animal Hospital in Glendale. She plays for people of all ages who are ill, recovering from surgery or approaching the end-of-life transition.

She decided to become certified in this field after learning how music played by therapeutic musicians can lessen the need for medication and shorten hospital stays.

"The advantage of playing live music at the bedside is that the music can be tailored to the patient's immediate needs," she said. "This includes pain management, stress reduction, regulation of heart rhythms and breathing, improved immune system response and mood enhancement."

After 34 years as a veterinary technician, Politi aspires to transition to a second career in the field of therapeutic music. In the meantime, both people and animals are benefiting from her musical knowledge and skills.

"The doctors started requesting harp music in the surgery room when they began to notice how it relaxed them during particularly long and stressful procedures," she said. "I've found that when the music is calm and steady, so is my patient, whether it is human, canine or feline. We keep harp music CDs in the surgery room regularly now, for the relief of all involved."

Information: www.caringharps.com.