A pilot program that has helped to put music into healthcare took a big step this week with a renewal that has transformed performances at the South Health Campus into a year-round program.

The initiative, which has been put together by Alberta Health Services, the Government of Alberta, and local tech company Stagehand, was first launched in February of this year.

Speaking on Sept. 26, Minister of Arts, Culture, and the Status of Women Tanya Fir said that the pilot’s success made it an easy decision to continue the program for another year.

“We were proud and happy to sponsor the pilot program and to see what a success it was, and the value and benefit on so many levels… it was such a win on so many levels,” she said.

“First and foremost, the healing power and the transformative power of music and what that brought to patients, their family, the staff, the hard-working staff here at South Health Campus, but also the outlet that it provides for local Alberta artists to perform, and the spotlight it gives them.”

She said that many organizations come to the government asking for grants, but a 97 per cent approval rating from patients, staff, and musicians for the initial pilot tailor-made a reason for the program to continue.

The initial funding for the pilot totaled $11,000, while the next phase of funding which is set to provide performances until Sept. 2025, was $19,000.

“I mean, the results were incredible. I remember being here in February for the opening of the first concert series, and it was pretty amazing,” said Minister Fir.

“[Press Secretary] Garrett [Koehler] and I both remember there was an elderly fellow there with his wife and who was quite far along in his stages of dementia. To see him connect and see him be aware of the music and connect with it and make that spark was pretty incredible.”

Dr. Stephanie Plamondon, a Clinical Professor in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the Cummings School of Medicine, said that music has proven to be a powerful stimulus for the brain and a useful tool in recovery from neurological conditions.

“It is stimulating all parts of the brain all at once because it acts through your ears to the auditory hearing systems. It connects with motor systems to make people move or want to move, and it also connects with the reward emotional pleasure systems,” she said.

“So, it’s very motivating both to move and just to give you feelings of energy and relieving of stress or anxiety around when you’re in hospital.”

She said, in her opinion, that more opportunities for music in a healthcare setting—whether that was in creative art therapies, or more general use of music—would improve the healing environment for patients.

“Music gives people feelings of joy and warmth, and that, in turn, reduces their overall feelings of stress. It’s familiar to them. It blocks out stressful, negative noise that can be in the hospital environment as well. Some hospitals actually have music integrated into the units, or into the ICU to block out all the monitoring and beeping sounds, the negative sounds that we hear,” Dr. Plamondon said.

That positive influence on better patient outcomes has borne out in research, said Dr. Plamondon.

“I just came back from an International Association of Music and Medicine conference, and there’s a huge amount of literature out there that is all pointing to the beneficial healing effects of music to reduce stress, anxiety, deal with chronic pain, and PTSD,” she said.

“Francis Collins of the National Institute of Health was just on Stephen Colbert last week talking about how intensively we’re studying music right now, and how in the future, we may be able to prescribe music instead of a pill, because it has that much benefit or comparable benefits if we use it in the right way, and we really understand how it works.”

Stagehand transforming musicians into healthcare participants

Troy Kokol and his wife Joni Delaurier, who make up the band Scarlett Butler, played the first concert in the new year-round series at the South Health Campus on Thursday for around two dozen patients, staff, and visitors to the hospital.

“I think playing in a hospital, really to me, it’s about sharing. Because when you’re a musician, you’re sharing the most vulnerable things in your life… vulnerability is a healing thing, and I think it’s really important,” said Kokol.

“For us to be able to share with an audience in a bar is great. But when you’re doing it in this sort of setting, people really need, I think, to hear that and to feel that they’re connected some way, because they’re probably going through some of the worst things in their lives.”

The duo got their big start with a radio hit they wrote for Shane Yellowbird called Pick Up Truck. Being a part of a healthcare team wasn’t really in the picture,” Kokol said.

“I mean, when you start out in music, you’re just like, ‘man, like, how do I get a gig?’ But to be able to be invited to something that is beyond just coming out and playing for people and getting applause and getting a cheque, you know, we’re here to promote and to nurture a community that is really about healing, I think it’s wonderful,” he said.

All of the performances at the South Health Campus, including Thursdays, were booked by Stagehand.

Derek Manns, founder of Stagehand, said that as a technology company, they were focused on connecting musicians with unconventional spaces, and that is how the initial pilot program happened.

“It’s all about making those connections, but then also measuring the impact of those performances. So, just like with an Airbnb, when you check out of your hotel, your room, they ask you ‘how was your stay,’ and they correlate that information. We do the same thing,” he said.

“So that after Troy and Joni finish performing today, they’ll get surveyed on how was their experience at the South Health Campus.”

He said that the benefit to artists was that it gives them places to perform, even if they are at unconventional venues like a hospital or an airport.

“There’s a place for music everywhere. One of the reasons we started doing what we’re doing is because we believe that music has the ability to change the experience,” Manns said.

“So, whether you’re in the hospital because you’re healing, it has the opportunity to improve the experience of your stay here. Or whether you’re travelling, it can reduce your stress. Or in the downtown core, it just makes the downtown a more pleasant place to be.”