“I’m a board certified and licensed music therapist and work specifically on the floor at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Music is such a motivator for all of our kids. It connects them which is one reason why I do ukulele groups.

Many of our kids, especially those with sickle cell, will come into the hospital in extreme pain and that’s such a young age to be experiencing that and requiring Morphine and Percocet and Dilaudid; all these really hefty drugs. You know they have to be in a lot of pain, so usually with my blood disorder kids, I’ll introduce the concept of coming to the ukulele group and they’ll say, “Oh, I’m not so sure, I’m not really feeling great,” but if I can get them out of bed and to the group, they’ll end up smiling and laughing and really interested in what each other are doing.

After teens have attended the ukulele group I give them the option to check out a ukulele for the rest of the day, or sometimes the rest of their hospital admission, so they have their own ukulele to keep in the room while they’re still here. They can play it whenever they want and it’s another choice they get to make. And during the weird hours of the night when I’m not there and if they’re awake and in pain, they can help themselves feel better and take their mind off of things for awhile.