Jennifer Buchanan’s stage is the hospital or the care home, but, like other musicians, she takes requests. “We do take requests! And that’s a big part of our job actually is to have this huge kit of music, huge history of music, decades worth, and we’re making live music because what we know for sure is that we can listen to music and activate the brain,” Buchanan told CTV News. “When we engage in music, we have the capacity to change the brain and change our nervous system.” Buchanan, a music therapist, is celebrating an infusion of funding into the National Music Centre’s music therapy program. BMO is contributing $500,000, which will be matched by the Jim Pattison Foundation, enabling the program to expand across Canada. Last year the Health Quality Council of Alberta recognized the program with a Patient Experience Award for its work with patients in intensive care, stroke recovery, burns, mental health, palliative care and other specialized units. “We’re seeing that people are recovering faster, feeling better sooner and getting to that physio appointment when they need to get there,” Buchanan said. To learn more or donate to the National Music Centre’s music therapy initiative visit studiobell.ca/nmc-music-therapy-initiative.
