Strings of Mercy

06/16/2025

Strings of Mercy: Sleep in Heavenly Peace - https://mailchi.mp/75f0142cc8f3/strings-of-mercy-update-06-2025
View the latest Strings of Mercy update which includes a patient story and program expansion update.

12/12/2024

Strings of Mercy Update - https://mailchi.mp/5b17fab153a5/strings-of-mercy-update-12-2024
We are so grateful for another year of providing Live Therapeutic Music to patients in the Atlanta area. We are truly changing the way we care for the suffering.

01/22/2024

Jan 2024 Update - https://mailchi.mp/8463bdae26ba/strings-of-mercy-update-01-2024

As we begin 2024, we are thankful to return to hospitals where our programs were suspended due to COVID-19, and also thankful that our 2023 year-end fundraiser wildly exceeded expectations! As a result, we are now poised to impact more patients, families, and clinical staff than ever before through Live Therapeutic Music.

Click the link above for more details!

12/04/2023

Strings of Mercy Update: A Vision Coming Into Focus - https://mailchi.mp/b66735db57f1/strings-of-mercy-update-9415769

People often assume that Live Therapeutic Music (LTM) is no more than playing pretty music for hospital patients. After 13 years of doing this work, I find that the only people who truly understand LTM are the Therapeutic Musicians, patients we have played for, and family members who have witnessed its healing power.

Click on the link above to read about our plans to change the way we care for the suffering in 2024.

12/11/2022

10 Years Later ... -

09/20/2022

Just a quick note to celebrate our Athens Therapeutic Music Development Fund Benefit at Hendershot's last month. You all are a BLESSING !!!!!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! I just can’t find any other words that can convey our deep appreciation and gratitude to those who contributed to Strings of Mercy’s Athens / Clarke County Therapeutic Music Development Fund. We received gifts from some of our high school and college friends, former co-workers, associates, and from a host of others that we have known for many years.

We are pleased to announce that we raised over $12,000 to support this mission. Because of the generosity of so many, Strings of Mercy can continue to help support local musicians as they train with MHTP, which allows us to expand our services at St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens.

A special highlight of the evening was when we were able to present a $5,000 grant to St. Mary’s Health Care System, where we will help develop a new Therapeutic Music program for patients at St. Mary’s Hospice House.

For those of you who were unable to attend our fundraising concert, you missed a fun evening with great music!! We would like to thank Lori Hamrick, Connie Muscenti, Will Taylor and the Athens Cello Quartet, The Kate Morrissey Band, and Klezmer Local 42 for sharing their incredible music with us; to Seth Hendershot for providing a fantastic venue for our event (Hendershot's Athens), his manager, Will Kissane, and Patrick, the best sound guy in the area.

We also want to recognize CMP Connie Muscenti, who worked many, many hours in pulling this event together, and Julie Carter for her commitment in developing the Therapeutic Music Program at St. Mary's Medical Center.

Strings of Mercy is proud to invest in Athens / Clarke County and we pray that our efforts there will become a template for other communities across Georgia and North America as we seek to change the way we care for the suffering. Because of your love, prayers, support, and financial gifts, we are on our way!

08/07/2022

Strings of Mercy is continuing to help change the way we care for the suffering by promoting and providing Live Therapeutic Music in hospitals, skilled nursing, and hospice facilities across north Georgia.

We are proud to partner with St. Mary’s Health Care System in Athens to provide a benefit concert this Saturday, August 13, from 7-10 pm, at Hendershot’s Coffee & Bar in Athens, GA. Musical guests include The Kate Morrissey Band and Klezmer Local 42, plus other local musicians.

Our goal for the evening is to raise $10,000 for tuition/certification assistance for two new therapeutic musicians (through the Music for Healing & Transition Program) and to provide therapeutic music sessions for hospice patients in the area. Strings of Mercy has received a generous matching grant of $2,500, so we are asking our friends and neighbors to give what they can to help us reach this goal! CDs and downloads of Chuck Beckman's “Treasures from Our Past” CD will be available at the concert, and a portion of these proceeds will be directed to the Athens Development Fund

Join us this Saturday at Hendershot’s for a great evening of music, and learn how you can help comfort those who suffer through the gift of Live Therapeutic Music. If you can’t come for the concert, you can go to www.stringsofmercy.org and donate to the Athens Development fund.

For more information, please visit StringsofMercy.org or MHTP.org.

We hope to see you Saturday night!!

01/11/2022

Due to the rapid rise of COVID-19 Omicron cases across the state of Georgia, Strings of Mercy and St. Mary’s Hospital have elected to postpone the benefit concert that was scheduled for January at Hendershot’s Coffee Bar. We are still committed to holding this event, and with the generous cooperation of Hendershot’s we will do so once it is safe for us to gather together again.

In the midst of this temporary setback, Strings of Mercy is excited to announce a $2,500 matching donation for our fundraiser. Every dollar given to help support our work in the Athens area will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $2,500. So just like that, $2,500 in donations doubles to $5,000, so spread the word!

This delay gives us more time to take advantage of this generous gift. Go to www.stringsofmercy.org today and click on the donate button to help us comfort more patients at more facilities across Athens/Clarke County through the gift of live therapeutic music. Contributions to the Athens Development Fund will also go towards scholarships for local musicians to become certified to provide live therapeutic music at more locations in the community.

Thank you in advance for your generous support and Happy New Year!

Changing the way we care for the suffering through Live Therapeutic Music

12/16/2021

In conjunction with St. Mary's Health Care System, Strings of Mercy will host a fundraising concert on January 15th at Hendershot's Coffee Bar in Athens, GA. Musical guests include Klezmer Local 42, Singer/Songwriter Kate Morrissey, Trio Caledonia, The Athens Cello Quartet and more. Donations will fund additional therapeutic music programs for St. Mary’s facilities in the Athens area, as well as provide tuition assistance for local musicians who will be training to become Certified Music Practitioners (CMPs) through the Music for Healing & Transition Program (MHTP).

CMP Connie Muscenti currently provides live therapeutic music for patients and staff at St. Mary’s Hospital one day per week. We want to develop additional resources to serve more patients at St. Mary’s hospital, St. Mary’s Hospice and St. Mary’s Highland Hills Village, an assisted living and memory care home in Athens. To serve more patients, we need to clinically train more musicians to become Certified Music Practitioners. And to do all this, we need your financial support. Would you consider a one-time year end gift, or join us with a monthly donation to fund this work?

COVID-19 has profoundly changed the medical landscape in Georgia. In addition to the deadly toll the pandemic has taken on patients across the state, anxiety, fear, and stress have been quietly wreaking havoc on patients and staff who have lived and worked behind closed doors during this pandemic. Shortages of healthcare workers to care for our family members, friends and neighbors adds another layer to the stress. But Strings of Mercy continues to provide therapeutic music interventions, bringing a much-needed calm and healing presence to these patients and their caregivers. Would you be willing to provide the gift of live therapeutic music so that patients might finally rest, sleep and allow clinical staff to relax while working in their units? A $50/month donation can provide one hour of therapeutic music every month for patients in need, or for a nursing unit that is understaffed.

Join us at the concert or donate at https://Stringsofmercy.org. Either way, your gift of therapeutic music will provide a healing presence that will help more than you could ever imagine.

Changing the way we care for the suffering through Live Therapeutic Music

11/28/2021

Some of you may have missed our latest email Newsletter, so I am posting this to update a few things with Strings of Mercy. Cheri & I continue to be humbled and blessed by your support and prayers. The following is the first article in our newsletter. The link for the entire newsletter is at the end of the page.

Early last year I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). While the diagnosis was a bit of a shock, I realized that I had been experiencing symptoms as far back as 2012. Although PD often affects my ability to play guitar, I am grateful that I can still play therapeutic music at slower tempos. Doctors now know the best way to slow the progression of this disease is for patients to eat a healthy diet, get plenty of sleep and exercise regularly. I am now exercising 5-6 days per week and am already experiencing some lessening of symptoms, which is allowing me to reduce the dosage of medication needed to manage my symptoms.

So, to allow more time to exercise and spend with Strings of Mercy, I will be stepping down as the Therapeutic Music Program Coordinator at Northeast Georgia Medical Center at the end of this year. CMP Lori Hamrick will be the new Program Coordinator and I am confident that she will do an excellent job of leading the program. I will continue working at NGMC part-time, and I'm excited about the extra time I will have for Strings of Mercy, developing new therapeutic music programs at other hospitals and healthcare facilities.

To read the entire email newsletter, click here: https://mailchi.mp/8a7d346147e2/2020-update-changes-2022 Let me know if you'd like to be added to our mailing list.

10/25/2021

Over the last 18 months, we've all heard media reports about the nursing shortage in the US. Ironically, many healthcare systems were already struggling to fill nursing vacancies prior to COVID-19. The pandemic only made it worse.

I've spoken with many nurses who worked extra 12-hour shifts with fewer days off, plus being assigned to more patients than normal, especially during the COVID-19 "surges".

The emotional / physical exhaustion and near- constant stress caused many clinicians to leave their profession. In fact, The Washington Post recently reported that 3 in 10 healthcare workers were considering leaving the profession. Working with so many COVID-19 patients over the past 18+ months has caused some healthcare workers to develop stress-related symptoms similar to what soldiers experience during and after tours of combat. It seems that no one is immune from the effects of living under extreme stress for long periods of time.

In April 2020, our therapeutic music team began providing live therapeutic music (LTM) at work stations in our critical care and COVID-19 units. This experience provided a front row seat to witness how the pandemic was affecting our staff. So, you can imagine my joy and gratitude when the NGMC Internal Review Board (IRB) approved a research study to determine what effect, if any, LTM might have on healthcare workers working in COVID-19 units.

The results? After only one 30-minute LTM session conducted while staff worked at their stations, participants reported an astonishing reduction of perceived stress scores @ 44.74%. Wowzer!

For all you data units who would like to review the data, I have included the link below: https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/ijhr/vol1/iss2/1/

I am humbled and honored for the privilege of co-authoring this research project at NGMC. And there are more projects being planned! Thanks to our NGHS staff, administration, the NGHS Foundation and WATCH Committee members who supported this project. I'd also like to salute our amazing research team: Cheryl Bittle, JoAnna Carrega and the NGMC therapeutic music team. Special thanks and recognition of my dear friend, mentor and former Nursing Excellence Director, Maria O. Whitt. Maria had the vision for conducting research when she hired me in June of 2019. If not for Maria, I would not even be at NGMC. Sadly for many of us, Maria exchanged her earth-suite for a set of angel wings and harp last month. Maria, your spirit lives on in our music and program at NGMC. And I know you'll remember to leave the light on for the rest of us.

Background: The Coronavirus pandemic has resulted in stressful work environments above what is considered normal for acute care settings. Chronic stress is known to have adverse effects on physical and emotional health and may lead to higher risk for job burnout and decreased quality of patient care...