TAMPA, Fla. — Music is often said to be medicine for the soul, and that is holding true at Tampa General Hospital.
Dr. Tanuja Sharma is helping lead the "Integrative Medicine" program. It's an alternative form of therapy that focuses on mindfulness.
Exercises include meditation, acupuncture, massage, breathing techniques, and music therapy.
Danielle Decosmo Goodwin serves as the Integrated Arts Specialist at Tampa General Hospital.
"We walk into patients' rooms on their hardest day and lives oftentimes with a new diagnosis. They're scared, their bodies are in a stress response, and we have to try to help them feel a moment of peace," Goodwin said.
That moment of peace comes with a guitar and Goodwin's soulful vocal chords. Her days consist of entering sterile rooms and filling them with a moment of release, serenity, and normalcy—if only for a moment.
"I have had experiences with patients where they have had dementia, end-stage dementia, and all of a sudden they were brought back to themselves for a moment, and they say, 'Oh, I was listening to that song here with my sweetheart. We used to dance to that,'" Goodwin said.
Dr. Sharma's goal is to see integrated medicine become a common part of healthcare. She said the battle is the lack of funding and studies to show the positive changes it creates.
"A lot of patients that we see have chronic pain, and integrated medicine can help with labor and cancer pain and post-operative pain," Dr. Sharma said.
The program is only offered to patients at Tampa General Hospital.
However, they will soon offer the public a "Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction" program. The eight-week program will offer intensive mindfulness training to assist people with stress, anxiety, depression, and pain.
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