Leslie Saulsbury, Altru's first music therapist, smiles while watching Josiah Green play a guiro. Wade Rupard / Forum News Service First full time music therapist at ND hospital reaches variety of patients By Pamela Knudson / Forum News Service on Oct 24, 2015 at 10:23 p.m. G RAND FORKS Sitting near a hospital bed at Altru Hospital, Leslie Saulsbury spreads the tools of her trade on the blanket in front of 7-year-old Josiah Green. The assorted music-making instruments include a portable keyboard, maracas, tambourine and a wooden stick with hinged, cup-shaped clappers that, when shaken, sound like horses' hooves on pavement. Josiah sits subdued and quiet next to the music therapist. "Would you like to play a song?" she asks gently, demonstrating the keyboard. He hesitates, then presses a few keys. "Should we write a Halloween song?" Saulsbury asks. Slowly her young patient plays a string of notes, and soon a bouncy rhythm begins to flow through his fingers. The music he's creating helps him forget about being sick, away from home, in a hospital bed. He can be a normal kid, experimenting with a tune.
After a while, Josiah looks up at Saulsbury. "I'll call it 'Blue Jay,'" he says, breaking into a grin. First in state Saulsbury, who joined Altru Health System in May after graduating from the University of North Dakota, is the first board-certified music therapist employed full time by a North Dakota hospital, according to Sherry Burg, manager of Altru's family birthing center, neonatal intensive care unit and women and children units. Music therapy is the specialized use of music to help people of all ages and ability to address their social, communication, emotional, physical, cognitive, sensory and spiritual needs. It is increasingly being used as a means of therapy in various settings such as long-term care, behavioral health, special education, early childhood intervention and in- and outpatient health care. In health care, for example, music therapy is used to soothe a patient at the end of life, provide a focal point during childbirth or to tap into the long-lost memories of an Alzheimer's patient. "It helps patients relax to the point where the immune system can work better," Saulsbury said. Music therapy fits well with Altru's commitment to holistic patient care, which includes pet therapy, guided imagery, the care channel and personal spa services, Burg said. "It affects the body through rhythm and the mind through melody and harmony. It can affect emotional aspects (of a patient)," she said. Music therapy "can build memory and help with speech, language, sound formation and movement," she said. "Even early on, think back to how we learn the alphabet through music." It creates "a healing environment, a place of healing," she said. "And it's fun and motivating." It's a profession Saulsbury had never heard of until she stumbled on it as a high school student in Colstrip, Mont. People are not generally aware of music therapy, "especially in the Midwest," she said. As a high school student, she had been thinking about going into nursing. Music therapy, she discovered, would be a way to blend her love of music with her desire to work in a helping profession. "Music has been a huge part of my life," she said. "Once I learned I could have it in my (professional) life, I was sold." Variety of patients As a music therapy student at UND, the flutist also learned to play piano and guitar. During a six-month internship at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Saulsbury gained experience that was
the "perfect fit" to prepare her for her position at Altru, said Dr. Meganne Masko, who heads UND's music therapy program and serves on the North Dakota Board of Integrative Health Care, which licenses music therapists. The University of Iowa provided her with music therapy experience in neonatal intensive care, pediatric, palliative care and psychiatry units, Saulsbury said. "It was fantastic... It gave me an idea of what I want the program here to be like," she said. At Altru, her job was to determine appropriate referral criteria for patients, she said. As the first music therapist there, she educated other staff members by informal talks, speaking at meetings and distributing handouts. Saulsbury visits with patients who have been hospitalized for an extended stay, those who are socially isolated and may not have family in the area or those dealing with pain and anxiety or in general, patients who are having trouble coping, she said. "Anyone who needs extra support," she said. Saulsbury also interacts one on one with patients who receive chemotherapy at the Altru Cancer Center and with small groups of psychiatric patients. She keeps the music volume low so hallways remain quiet, she said. "(But) music spreads the joy," and sometimes staff members will linger at the patient's request and sing along. Patient feedback has been "very positive," Saulsbury said. "Most are just surprised (music therapy) is part of hospital care now." She is encouraged to see how, after only a few months, other health professionals such as nurses, certified nurse assistants and social workers have responded to her work. "It's cool to see they have adopted the referral criteria. So, instead of seeing music therapy as a last resort, now they are proactive and say, first thing, 'We need to get music therapy in here.'" What pleases her most is "seeing how much of a difference music therapy makes on patients, to see how it changes their day," she said. "Like with a dementia patient they can be so scared. Can you imagine how scary it is for people if you don't remember things?" she said. "It's nice that music can bring back those memories that are lost." Affects brain, heart Music has been proven to be effective in stimulating language and communication in people with mental disorders. "A person with dementia, all of a sudden, is singing lyrics to a song," Masko said. "With older patients, all of a sudden they're talking (when) they haven't in a long time.... Because of the neural activation, they now talk a little more and answer questions." The renewed ability to communicate is important, she said, "(because) a person who gets sick is likely to become
withdrawn or their support person may withdraw from them." Music therapy can lower blood pressure, reduce stress hormones and heart rate. It can decrease the need for prescription pain medication, such as opioids, "which are great, but they compromise other things," Masko said. Studies also show music therapy plays a role in releasing the brain's "pleasure" chemical, dopamine, which can counteract depression. It's effective in physical rehabilitation to improve "walking, talking, fine and gross motor skills," Masko said. As a member of a National Institutes of Health panel that reviews research proposals, she sees evidence of the "high quality research" and collaborative studies that team music therapists with doctors, nurses, occupational and physical therapists, and biologists, she said. Burg said, "Health care today is driven by patient outcomes. Does music therapy create great outcomes? Absolutely." SPONSORED CONTENT Welcoming Matt Damon Back to His Home Planet By South Dakota Governor's Office of Economic Development ADVERTISEMENT