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Accepted Student Recognition Day 4/6/24 arrow

At this year’s Anita B. Ogden Symposium, Elmira College Nursing students were treated to two musical harp demonstrations. Jayne Demakos, Certified Therapeutic Harp Practitioner, and Maryalice Little, Certified Clinical Musician and Therapeutic Harpist, played selections for the audience to show the benefits of music in the healing process.

Demakos is the Coordinator of the Music Program at Hospicare and Palliative Care Services and she plays music to comfort patients who are suffering and people who are grieving.

Little, works part-time at the Southeast Steuben County Library in Corning, New York, and similarly provides therapeutic services with her harp. She has enjoyed bringing live music to unusual places such as state parks, medical office lobbies, and the Department of Motor Vehicles.

“I really liked how Demakos explained that she matches her playing with the heart rate of the patient,” said Emma Harwood ’23, a Nursing major. She explained that Demakos will speed up or slow down her playing depending on how fast or slow the patient’s heart is beating.

Michaela Curry ’23, a Nursing major, felt similarly. She believes the tailored approach is what sets this type of therapy apart from the musical therapy she’s seen so far in local hospitals.
“The only music therapy I have seen is music played on a speaker,” said Curry. “It’s not catered to the patient.”

Harwood and Curry were excited to learn about different musical therapy options so that, when they become nurses, they can be “better advocates” for their patients.

“There’s more to caring for patients than just managing their symptoms,” said Dr. Milissa Volino, Director of Nurse Education, Associate Professor of Nurse Education. “The Symposium helps our students know about complementary therapies that the students can call on that aren’t just a pill.”

The annual Symposium is named after Dr. Anita B. Ogden, a nationally known nursing leader, who was director of the Elmira College Nurse Education Program from 1989 until her death in 2000. Ogden considered complementary therapies to professional nursing care an important supplement to traditional medicine and the Symposium provides an opportunity to introduce EC Nursing students to complementary therapies, such as art therapy, massage, meditation, animal-assisted therapy, yoga, Tai Chi, and Acupuncture. Primary funding in support of the symposium comes from an endowment established in Ogden's memory that is supported by colleagues, alumnae, and friends. Additional support is provided by the Rho Gamma Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing and Professional Nurses of the Twin Tiers.

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