The courses, con-ceived of and created by Founding Director, Edie Elkan, build one upon the other, much like the four classroom modules for the first level of certification. These modules, though, delve more deeply into topics and offer participants hands-on experiences. For example, Module VII on ethics, a 12-week online course, has students work their way through ethical dilemmas relevant to their work in harp therapy. In addition to working chapter-by-chapter in our text,

®Report

���������������� ������� Program Notes 2–3 Bedside Harp® Community Sounds 4 Upcoming Events 5 Administrators’ Corner 5 Ad Libitum 6 Encore! 7

THE BEDSIDE HARP® REPORT Edie Elkan, Founding Director Diana V. Nolan, Editor Neshaminy Medical Professional Center 4802 Neshaminy Boulevard, Suites 3–4 Bensalem, PA 19020 (PA) 215-752-7599; (NJ) 609-273-0068 Facsimile: 215-752-0529

Page 1

THE

Three New Mastery-Level Modules Receive Rave Reviews

Mastery level candi-dates and graduates alike were offered the opportunity to partici-pate in our three new modules—Module VII: Conversations on Ethics for Harp Therapists; Module VIII: Conversa-tions on Research for Harp Therapists; and Module IX: Harp Ther-apy as a Mind Body Modality. All three were well received by partici-pants and perhaps as importantly, were deemed by them to be absolutely essential courses for anyone wanting to deepen their knowledge and profes-sionalism.

questions starting out like, “What would you do if...” and “How might you handle a situation in which...” got the ball rolling each week. At the course’s end, students remarked, “this course should be required for every living human being,” and “Before taking this course, I never realized all the issues I could encoun-ter.” The online course on research, also 12 weeks, progressed logically from the eth-ics course, but fol-lowed a unique for-

Abington Memorial Hospital Approves Stroke Study

Continued on page 2

W e have just re-ceived word that Bedside Harp®’s pro-posed stroke study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board at Abington Me-morial Hospital in Abington, PA. As re-ported in the Research Supplement of The Bedside Harp Report, our research will ask, “Does the intervention of harp therapy in the earliest stages of a stroke have a positive impact on a patient’s residual effects?” Live harp music, often ac-companied by voice, will be played at the bedside for a period of

about an hour each day, more often when-ever possible. Partici-pants will also be in-vited to play a 10-string lyre. The lyre will be kept at the hos-pital for the partici-pant’s use throughout his/her hospitalization. Our investigative team includes neu-rologist Dr. James M. Burke, Deborah Murphy, MSN, RN, ANP-BC Stroke Pro-gram Coordinator at Abington Me-morial Hospital and Edie Elkan, MA, HCMHT, Founding Direc-

2009 MAY YTD

Number of patients in our host hospitals who received live harp therapy ses-sions lasting five or more minutes

837

3,578

Number of hours of live harp therapy delivered to pa-tients, their loved ones, staff and doctors at our host hospitals

182

908

tor of Bedside Harp. Bedside Harp interns and graduate harp therapists will deliver the music and encour-age participants to make music them-selves on the lyres. We hope this exciting project will take harp therapy to new levels.

Continued from page 1

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Page 2 THE BEDSIDE HARP® REPORT

mat. The first part of the course pre-pared students to take the NIH certifi-cation for researchers, which all par-ticipants accomplished in week seven of the course. Students then used the remaining weeks to collaboratively prepare an actual harp therapy re-search proposal, including conduct-ing a formal literature review and writing an informed consent. The feedback we received on this course was also enthusiastic. Everyone was thrilled to have passed the NIH certi-fication and in awe over the amount of work and planning that goes into every formal research project before the clinical portion of the study can commence. The weekend of June 13 and 14 brought mastery-level candidates and graduates together for the first pres-entation of Module IX: Harp Therapy as Mind Body Medicine. This inten-sive 17-hour course explored the many possible applications of harp therapy not only in a medical setting, but also in other settings, and coupled with other integrative therapies such as guided meditation and yoga, as well as in developing private one-on-one sessions. This evidence-based course is based upon the specialized training Edie received from 2004 through 2008 from Harvard Univer-sity Medical School’s Benson-Henry Mind Body Institute in Boston, Mas-sachusetts. Our offering included coursework on meditation, guided

imagery, the relaxation response, empathy, cognitive restructuring, and, of course, a good amount of music. What seemed to strike par-ticipants particularly was how won-derful it was to work with the other therapies. One student commented, “I feel very encouraged that I can find places other than healthcare facilities to offer harp therapy.” Sev-eral others wrote that they were as-tounded to realize the power of posi-tive thinking and belief. This mod-ule, as all of our mastery level mod-ules, will be offered once a year. For further information and dates, please call our office.

Bedside Harp® Now A Corporation When Edie founded Bedside Harp® in February 2002, the lawyers she consulted advised her to establish it as a New Jersey Limited Liability Company, because at the time it was only a one-person endeavor and the only contract she had in hand was with Robert Wood Johnson Univer-sity Hospital Hamilton, a New Jer-sey hospital. Now, nearly eight years later, Bedside Harp has seen a rather remarkable expansion with Edie still heading the organization, but with many others actively in-volved in all phases of its operation. Edie felt that it was clearly time to rethink things. And so from now on, you will no longer see Bedside Harp, referred to as an LLC, but rather as a corporation—Bedside Harp, Inc. Nothing more has changed—we’re ever dedicated to providing the highest quality pa-tient-centered hospital hosted pro-grams, to offering comprehensive, evidence-based training and certifi-cation, and to participating in groundbreaking research.

Edie Elkan Speaks at the 18th Annual Radiation Oncology Conference The 18th Annual Radiation Oncol-ogy Conference for Nurses, Thera-pists and Dosimetrists is described, in its brochure, as “a national sym-posium providing state-of-the-art knowledge pertaining to current and evolving treatment options for patients with cancer.” This year’s sessions included information fo-cusing on the entire trajectory of radiation treatment, multi-modality management of site specific can-cers, patient assessment, side ef-fects and quality improvement ini-tiatives and harp therapy. As she is always wont to do, Edie opened her

presentation with a harp therapy ses-sion, walking around the large con-ference room, playing gentle and healing music. Participants smiled, some closed their eyes and breathed more deeply, others just let the vi-brations wash over them. Edie then spoke, presenting evidence-based data and punctuating each point with a poignant case history. All in atten-dance gave her a warm reception—one attendee came up to Edie at the close of the session and announced: “Now I know why I traveled over 400 miles to come here—it was to hear your presentation!”

Bedside Harp® Spring 2009 class at Bucks County Community College—from left to right: Graceanne Adamo, Nancy Ostroff, Betsy

MacKenzie-Stubbs Kerry Huntington.

continues to make and repair harps, and currently makes his living from harps—playing music part-time in a church, performing and teaching, in addition to the technical work. As our harp technician, Brian stresses the difference between a harpmaker and a luthier. A harpmaker may simply be a cabinetmaker who has decided to build a harp, whereas a luthier understands the sonic properties of the wood and the wood’s strength. He is a true craftsman who understands the tonal qualities necessary for a good, strong, long-lasting harp. A luthier will have played around with different types of wood and studied literature to understand those sonic properties. Brian rein-forces his own expertise by consult-ing with luthier Howard Bryant in Lynchburg, VA who does major res-torations of antique harps. Brian comes to us from Manassas, VA where he lives and works. In addition to providing harp regulation

Page 3 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 2

Bedside Harp®’s 2009 Graduation Ceremony will take place this year on Sunday, August 16 at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton Center for Health and Wellness. The ceremony will begin at 2:00 PM in Hamilton, NJ. This year’s graduates include Cer-tified Harp Therapists: Kathy Platt, Jim Sutherland, Jan Lucas, Jane Oskutis, and Pat Stebbins. At the Mastery Level, our new Certified Master Harp Therapists will be Diane Penchansky, Janet Zimmerly and Pat Craig. This year, Diane Grillo of RWJUH Hamilton will be honored with our Bedside Harp Living Leg-end award for her work and support of Bedside Harp’s program.

2009 Graduation Ceremony Planned Dwight

Blevins in Colorado. We have 22-string Maries in stock, ready to pick up and take home. Finally, as mentioned in an earlier newsletter, we have 10-string Davidic lyres made by Marini in Lan-caster, PA. These will be used in our upcoming stroke study (see page 2). For information on pricing or to make an appointment to visit our showroom, please call Shannon at our Bensalem office: 215-752-7599.

Harp Technician Provides Repairs and Regulations

Bedside Harp Offering Floor Harps for Sale

Recently Bedside Harp®’s Ben-salem office was a hub of activity with the arrival of our official harp technician, Brian Stevenson. Brian, a certified harp therapist who graduated from our 2007 certifica-tion program, comes to Bedside Harp about four times a year to do repairs, regulations and restringing of harps for Bedside Harp students, interns and graduates. Building harps has been a life-long activity for Brian who built his first small harp with his father years ago. His father was a woodworker all his life, and Brian had a passion for music, talents they combined to construct that first harp. As Brian outgrew his small harp, they made a larger one and continued to move up in size until he was building, and playing professionally, a pedal harp. Brian studied music and received a performance degree in wood-winds from Shepard University. He went on to spend two years in a seminary where he received a de-gree in ministerial studies. But he

Currently in our showrooms, Bed-side Harp is offering a number of floor harps for sale, in addition to the Marie therapy harps that have been available for some time. The floor harps in stock include a Marini Shalom floor harp, fully lev-ered with gold Truitt levers. The in-stock model is made of walnut wood, however the harp can be or-dered in a variety of woods. There are also two Blevins River-song models which also have 36 strings and gold Truitt levers. The Riversong offers a luscious tone quality and great portability. It can also be ordered in a variety of woods; the ones in stock is made of mahogany and cherry. We also carry the Blevins 20-, 22-, and 24-string Marie harps, made to Edie’s specifications by

services, he also presents a popu-lar segment during Module II of our Certification program on Myers-Briggs for Harp Thera-pists—self-discovery through the the use of the Myers-Briggs per-sonality indicator. You can find out more about Brian’s schedule and availability for repair work by calling our office.

During a recent visit to our offices, Brian restrings a harp for a Bedside Harp intern.

Riversong 36-string floor harp

ing about, it doesn’t matter. Here is what has happened to all of us. Everyone of us has been forced into a totally different life-style, forced to meet and work daily for months with people from com-pletely different backgrounds, edu-cation, nationalities, races and relig-ions. We have learned that we can accomplish the hardest tasks if we will only work together and take one step at a time. We have also learned that probably the greatest single evil in human society is to refuse to care, to refuse to try, to refuse to step out-side of your comfort zone. We have seen Iraq, and we’ve seen both great hope and we’ve seen the worst that one human can do to another. We are not the same. Veterans have a different way of looking at things and a different set of priorities than everyone else, and you will find it happening to yourself, to your great surprise. You will probably find yourself going one of two ways, and both are good and I want to encourage them equally. One way is the way of involve-ment. People will share their com-ments, criticism, frustrations and anger and they’ll ask you your opin-ion. You’ll give it, and they will re-spond, “Nothing’s going to change, why even try?” And you will find yourself saying, “We’re going to try, because we can and because it’s the right thing to do.” And you will get involved and you will be a leader.

SUBSCRIPTIONS & ADVERTISING The Bedside Harp® Report is distributed to all Bedside Harp students and graduates and other interested parties by email (free) or hard copy ($12/year). This quarterly newsletter is full of the latest information about Bedside Harp programs and new developments in our field. We accept clas-sified and display advertising; please call for rates and details. We reserve the right to reject or cancel any advertisement that we deem unacceptable. To subscribe or to advertise, send your ad and mailing information to diana@bedsideharp.com. Bedside Harp, Neshaminy Medical Professional Center, 4802 Neshaminy Boulevard, Suites 3–4, Bensalem, PA 19020.

Page 4 THE BEDSIDE HARP® REPORT

Uxwá|wx [tÜÑ VÉÅÅâÇ|àç fÉâÇwá Uxwá|wx [tÜÑ VÉÅÅâÇ|àç fÉâÇwá Uxwá|wx [tÜÑ VÉÅÅâÇ|àç fÉâÇwá Uxwá|wx [tÜÑ VÉÅÅâÇ|àç fÉâÇwá Jan Koczera Ends Third Iraq Deployment

We’re nearly ready to go home, and I thought that I’d share with all of you the last article that I’ve written for our Joint Area Support Group Newsletter. People ask me what it’s like to be deployed, and I thought that you might like to read this be-cause it really sums up my thoughts on what has happened to us throughout this, my third deploy-ment to a combat zone. I’ve directed it to our troops and I’ve received feedback from many and it echoes the mindset of many of us.

W e are veterans, we see life in a different way. I want to share one last message from this deployment, because something has happened to every one of us that you may not even be aware of. I’ve seen this happen twice now, and I know it will also happen this third time. We are all veterans now. We will all come off that plane in the United States and we will all (trust me, it’s true) think that our eyes have changed because we will never quite see things the same way that we have before. You probably won’t believe me as you read this, but it’s true. You will not be the same. I’m not talking about combat or seeing blood or any traumatic thing like that, although some of us have had that experi-ence. Also, some of us have done very well, some of us have had sig-nificant problems. It doesn’t matter. I’ll repeat that—for what I’m talk-

The other way is the way of under-standing. When you look at a per-son, you will no longer be so quick to classify them by their education, their skin color or their faith. In-stead, you’ll know that every human being has within them the potential for great achievement and at the same time the potential for complete and utter failure, and you will find yourself doing everything you can to encourage them, to lift them up and to set them on the path to success. You may feel alone as you do this, but realize that there are thousands of us out there who feel the same as you do. We are veterans, we see life in a different way. When you started reading this you thought that you had come to the end of this deployment and that you would return home and everything will be normal again. Welcome, you’ve just come to the beginning of an entirely new chapter in your life. With God’s help, your life will never be the same again.

—Chaplain Jan Koczera, Bedside Harp Certification

Class of Spring 2007

Page 5 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 2

June 13–14 Module IX: Bedside Harp’s Harp Therapy Workshops, Bensalem, PA. June 24–28 Module III: “Glimpses Within,” Spring 2009, registration through BCCC. June 23–26 American Harp Society, 38th Annual Conference, Dearborn, MI. July 9–12 Somerset Harp Festival, Alexandria, VA. July 30–August 2 Module IV: “Creating Work for Yourself/Creating Yourself for Work,” Fall 2008 and Spring 2009. August 16 Bedside Harp Graduation Ceremony, RWJUH Hamilton Health and Wellness Center, 2:00 PM. September 10–13 Module I: “To Soothe the Savage Breast,” Fall 2009. October 15–18 Module II: “Glimpses Within,” Fall 2009. November 18–22 Module III: “Working with the Depressed, the Seriously Ill and the Dying,” Fall 2009.

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Administrators’ Corner: A Conversation with John Marcantonio

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) at Rahway has been hosting Bedside Harp® pro-grams for about six years. Recently, our Founding Director Edie Elkan sat down with John Marcantonio to learn about his experiences with our pro-grams and our work. John Marcanto-nio is the Director of Patient Satisfac-tion and Community Relations at the hospital, as well as a presenter on self-discovery through dream work at our certification modules. John told Edie he did not have to believe what he had heard about the program—he could see it for him-self. At Edie’s first visit to present our offerings, he shadowed her through the hospital for a first-hand view of how harp therapy works and its effects on patients. He remem-bers specifically a man in a hospital room who had been on a ventilator for a long time. After Edie played for him, one of the nurses told them it was the first time his breathing had settled down and his blood pres-sure went down. The patient smiled and his wife was in tears saying it was the first time she had seen him smile in two weeks. One of the features John most ap-preciates about Bedside Harp is our approach with patients. While the hospital’s professional medical staff make every effort to include the pa-tient in their treatment plan, inevita-bly the patient is diagnosed, pre-scribed and treated, often losing a sense of freedom and privacy. In

contrast, Bedside Harp proposes therapy and waits for an invitation from the patient, often through non-verbal communication. This allows the patient a sense of dignity as well as the right to say no. John is also impressed with the depth of Bedside Harp’s connection to healing. Many groups and indi-viduals offer entertainment and dis-tractions to the patients, however Bedside Harp provides a service that is much more substantial, rooted in vibrational therapy, and more worth-while to the patients. This commit-ment is also demonstrated in Bedside Harp’s level of quality and compe-tency. Our graduates and interns have undergone considerable train-ing in classroom materials, keeping documentation and journals, and in-cluding practical internships of over 120 hours. This commitment to com-petency is familiar to all profession-als who work in health care and thus an important aspect of our program as it provides a level of safety and protection of the patients. As he noted, John witnessed the effects of harp therapy immediately when he shadowed Edie through the hospital that first day. But as the pro-gram has become a regular part of the RWJUH Rahway environment, he has noted profound effects throughout the hospital. He sees a decrease in anxiety among patients, anxiety that can cloud clinical out-comes, thwart memory, and stand in the way of important decisions pa-tients need to make. The music of

our harpists brings the hospital “better” patients to work with and also makes the staff better able to do their work, for the healing vibra-tions are felt throughout the hospi-tal, by staff, nurses and doctors, too. Bedside Harp’s programs include lessons for the community within and outside the hospital. John also appre-ciates this way to reach out to the sur-rounding community and noted how it helps raise awareness of the hospital and its services in general, in addition to the specific harp therapy program they may choose to be a part of. Fi-nally, he commented on the thirst for objective knowledge that Bedside Harp pursues by way of research, at-tempting to measure the effects of harp therapy in visible and tangible ways. Bedside Harp has produced a DVD of interviews of our host hos-pital administrators talking about the differences our program and work make in their facilities. For a free copy of this DVD, please con-tact shannon@bedsideharp.com.

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THE BEDSIDE HARP® REPORT Page 6

female in her 50s lying in the bed read-ing. As I noodled she looked up at me, her eyes seemed to curiously engage what I was doing. As I played “Over the Rainbow,” our eyes met. She seemed mesmerized, almost transfixed in the moment. Though words were not spoken it seemed as if deep grati-tude was expressed by each of us in those expansive moments. As I left the room I noted a male patient approxi-mately in his 50s standing and listen-ing in the hallway. He asked me if I was an angel and I smiled. I continued to noodle for him and played several songs. He thanked me and said, “that is beautiful.” Music is an international language of the soul, enabling individuals to meet and share priceless moments of healing together. I will continue to listen to and observe the patient’s language as well as my own to determine when, what and how to move and play. I entered another room, occupied by two female patients. They were both in bed, one on the telephone and one looking around the room. I continued with noodling, followed by familiar songs. Both patients looked up and smiled, saying thank you. A doctor entered the room and stopped long enough to say “that’s beautiful.” I moved on as he closed the curtain at his patient’s bedside. Playing affects everyone, including staff and physi-cians. I entered a room occupied by a fe-male in her 50s, a gentleman seated next to her, and a woman in the far bed in her 60s. The first female was on the phone talking to someone about her medical history and current hospital stay. I noticed that the female in the far bed was painting on a small easel on her bedside tray. After noodling I be-gan playing familiar tunes. The woman on the far bed looked up at me and asked, “Is that a harp?” I told her yes, continuing to play. She continued to look and observe, almost as if being taken by surprise. As I played tears came to her eyes and she let out a sigh.

She appeared drawn into the music. As I concluded, she profusely thanked me with tears in her eyes. Music has such a deep impact when it provides a cradle of sound in the hospital environment. I will con-tinue to paint pictures with musical repertoire. I began noodling in the doorway of this next room, occupied by a male patient in his 40s. He was ly-ing in bed with a female visitor ly-ing next to him. I began noodling and playing “In the Mood” and “Heart and Soul.” He began to hum as I continued playing. He smiled at me. The woman lying next to him smiled as I played. Watching the two individuals respond together to the music was very inspiring, show-ing me another bridge by which individuals journeying together through healing can come together through music. I need to expand my repertoire with love songs. I entered the next room and began noodling in the doorway. I noticed a gentleman approximately in his 70s seated next to his bed and facing the doorway. Another patient was behind a curtain in the far bed. I moved from noodling into “In the Mood,” and the former gentleman began tapping his foot and smiled, stating “that’s from our time.” He began to hum and con-tinued tapping and moving his body to the music. He asked about my harp and I briefly explained that it is a folk harp and I play through the Bedside Harp program. I next played “Heart and Soul,” and suddenly realized he was seated on a bedside commode. We had been together, enjoying the music, as if nothing unusual were happening while we listened. He thanked me when I finished, stating how much he enjoyed my playing. I nodded and said thank you. I left and began chuckling inside at playing “In the Mood” while he had been seated on a commode.

—Gina Rosenthal, Bedside Harp® Certification Intern

I began my first day of playing for patients on the floors. I felt both anxious and eager to begin. As I began to walk around the fourth floor hallway, I suddenly could not think of how to begin a song—any song. Realizing I was nervous and adjusting, I soothed myself by be-ginning to play chords with both hands. This seemed to automati-cally turn into noodling and I now felt like I was easing in. I am familiar with hospitals, having worked in that setting as a physical therapist. Bedside Harp®, however, is different. It is easier because I need to do nothing but be present and play/create a cradle of sound, and chal-lenging as I am beginning to expand my noodling and repertoire and learn a new presence. I realized that I need to leave more open time, in the fu-ture, at the beginning and end of my planned playing to settle in, ground and re-enter my world outside patient rooms and the hospital. The first patient was a male in his 70s seated in the chair on far side of room, watching TV. As I noodled he looked up. I played “Danny Boy” as he reminded me of my Irish friend’s father. He applauded at the end, smil-ing back at me, as nodded his head and we made eye contact. His posture seemed to change and he appeared to be more relaxed and sitting back and more upright in his chair as I left the room. I will continue connecting with individuals through sound and notic-ing body language and hand move-ments. Next, a nurse approached me as I left the above patient’s room, stating “that’s my favorite song,” so I played “Danny Boy” for her in the hallway as she sang it and I hummed along. She smiled broadly and said thank you, her eyes and expression seemed more awake as I concluded. I will continue supporting staff as this is vital to their health and to patient care. I stood in the doorway and noted a

XÇvÉÜx4 XÇvÉÜx4 XÇvÉÜx4 XÇvÉÜx4 Shannon Barletti

I f you have contacted Bedside Harp® for any reason in the last couple of years, you have no doubt already “met” Shannon Barletti. We first introduced Shannon to readers of The Bedside Harp Report in No-vember 2007 when she was named the Students Affairs Coordinator, after working as an office assistant since the spring of that year. Now Shannon has taken on many respon-sibilities and is the primary contact for most of the people who contact our organization. In addition to coordinating stu-dent affairs—which involves regis-tering and enrolling students in our instructional and certification pro-grams, reviewing documentation by our interns, and keeping track of billing and invoices—Shannon man-ages harp sales and rentals, handles receptionist duties, supervises the office assistants and oversees cleri-cal work, and orders lunch! She keeps the office organized and sup-plied, and troubleshoots whenever necessary, always willing to take on any special projects that come up. Edie Elkan notes, “Shannon is es-pecially talented in creating our homemade video and audio pro-jects. She's become a real whiz at cutting and editing. This past Fall, she even took video camera in hand and recorded our top hospital admin-istrators talking to Edie about how Bedside Harp made a notable differ-ence at their facilities.” Leslie Stickley, Bedside Harp’s Associate Director, says, “Shannon is not only Edie's right hand, she's mine too. If I had to keep track of students, times, registration at four locations on my own, it just wouldn't happen. Last minute cancellations, I call Shannon and with a smile in her voice she says ‘no problem!’ and I know it will get done. Bedside Harp teacher Nancy Beal concurs: “She answers the phone with such a professional ‘phone voice’ that you always think you are

the most important phone call of her day.” Leslie continues, “We can email back and forth over issues during the day and get things resolved.” Nancy adds, “she writes the happi-est emails; I am always cheered up when I hear from her.” Last-minute copying, pulling supplies together—Shannon makes it possible for Leslie to work 50 hours a week at St. Monica’s Manor and teach. And Nancy notes that “a small offering of milk (not dark!) chocolate can brighten her day.” Shannon came to Bedside Harp as a senior at Bensalem High School and her part-time assistant job has now become full-time work in our main office. Nevertheless, like many other 20-year-olds, Shannon is also a full-time student. She is in the nurs-ing program at Bucks County Com-munity College in Newtown, PA. Just 12 credits shy of her Associates degree in the Arts at Bucks, Shannon expects to transfer to a clinical nurs-ing program next year. She is a Dean’s List student at Bucks with a 3.8 GPA and has been invited to join their Honor Society. As if this weren’t enough, Shan-non is also a Board Certified Emergency Medical Technician with a pink stethoscope and a bright orange “first-in” bag. She volunteers at a local firehouse run-ning the QRS—Quick Response System—sending out EMTs to provide medical assistance before the ambulances arrive. In high school, Shannon was in-volved in the school music pro-gram—vocal as well as instrumental. Not surprisingly, she does not have as much time for music any more. However, she did learn to play the harp and joins the harp circles when they perform. Otherwise, in her “spare time” Shannon enjoys cook-

ing and visiting jazz clubs in Center City. Leslie finishes by saying, “I watch Shannon’s professionalism on the phone, guiding students through all their questions and con-cerns and see how much this young woman has grown and matured since she came to Bedside Harp as the copygirl! “And, as someone who has had a small part in helping her learn to play the harp, while I wish she could work at it more, she steps up last minute and joins circle if we need her. She’s already talented but, when she finally has the time to work at it someday, I think she'll be a wonderful harpist and will hope-fully get to enjoy the ability to take this magical instrument to the bed-side as part of her nursing career at a much younger age than I was able to! I don’t know what we would do without Shannon!”

VOLUME 6, NUMBER 2 Page 7

Five Things You Always Wanted to Know About Shannon:

Favorite color: Green (have you seen our latest stationery?) Favorite musician: Harry Connick, Jr. (have you heard what she plays at her desk?) Favorite food: Eggplant (at least twice a week for lunch) Favorite number: 7 (as in the differ-ent tones in a major scale) Favorite author: James Joyce (were you expecting J.K. Rowling?)

Check out our

website!

www.bedsideharp.com

Our Mission and Core Values The mission of Bedside Harp, LLC is to promote the therapeu-tic use of the harp in healthcare. Committed to making a differ-ence in that setting, we play for patients, the worried well and staff; teach staff and members of the community how to play the therapy harp; provide harp therapy training and certifica-tion; and participate in research projects. We exist to bring re-lief, comfort and hope to patients, their families and all who care for them. To achieve our mission, we are committed to:

E Excellence

P Professionalism

I Integrity

C Collaboration

Neshaminy Medical Professional Center 4802 Neshaminy Boulevard, Suites 3–4

Bensalem, PA 19020 Phone (PA): 215-752-7599;

(NJ) 609-273-0068 Email: bedsideharp@aol.com

®

®

Neshaminy Medical Professional Center 4802 Neshaminy Boulevard, Suites 3–4 Bensalem, PA 19020 Phone (PA): 215-752-7599; (NJ) 609-273-0068 Email: bedsideharp@aol.com

Thank you, Nina Kohl!