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room modules will beoffered in our GreatRoom in Bensalem, PAThis affords us greater comfort, flexibility andeasier access to all of our module materialsand equipment.CEUs for all profes-sions are available for each of these modules.BCCC will issue Certifi-cates of Completion tostudents as they com- plete each module. And,as before, our mastery-level graduates will beeligible to receive 10college music credits for completing that level of study.There are additionalchanges as well. Mod-ules II and IV, for-merly three-day mod-ules, will be expandedto four days, begin-
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Program Notes 2–4Bedside Harp Community Sounds 5Ad Libitum 6Upcoming Events 6Encore! 7
THE BEDSIDE HARP
®
REPORTEdie Elkan, Founding Director Diana V. Nolan, Editor  Neshaminy Medical Professional Center 4802 Neshaminy Boulevard, Suite 9Bensalem, PA 19020(PA) 215-752-7599; (NJ) 609-273-0068Facsimile: 215-752-0529
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     T     H     E
Bedside Harp
®
Certification Will Be OfferedExclusively at Bucks County Community College
Groundbreaking Stroke Study To Be Launched in New Year
 
Once again we haveraised the bar, settingyet a higher standardof excellence for our-selves and our field.Starting with our Spring 2009 class, allof the classroom mod-ules of our harp ther-apy certification pro-gram will be offeredthrough the Continu-ing Education Depart-ment of Bucks CountyCommunity College(BCCC).This exciting de-velopment makesBedside Harp
®
thefirst harp therapycertification programnot only to be exclu-sively hospital-hosted, but to be, aswell, exclusively col-lege-based.All of our class-ning with the Spring2009 semester. Thisexpansion turns our first level of certifica-tion into a 260-hour  program of study.Tuition for each of these modules re-mains at $700 throughour Spring 2009 se-mester. Our two onlinediscussions for masterylevel—Conversationson Ethics and Conversa-tions on Research for Harp Therapists—will,through Spring 2009, be offered by register-ing directly with Bed-side Harp.Students may reg-ister for all first-levelcertification classroommodules online at theBCCC website: www. bucks.edu/con-ed or bycalling 215-968-8409.
Continued on page 4
which will includeusing our voices aswell as inviting par-ticipants to play our little 10-string Da-vidic lyres (see page4) for their ownfrom her reading abouta small study done inHelsinki last February.In that study, stroke patients were encour-aged to listen to re-corded familiar musicfrom the earliest hoursof their stroke. Theresults indicatedthat such activitydid lower the num- ber and severity of residual effects of their stroke.Our study willinvolve deliveringfamiliar music to patients in live harptherapy sessions
T
oday, four millionAmericans areliving with the residualeffects of a stroke:from limited functional-ity to speech impedi-ments to chronic de- pression. Our newestresearch, to be launchedat Abington MemorialHospital, will ask whether the interven-tion of harp therapy inthe earliest stages of afirst stroke can make adifference in limiting a patient’s residual ef-fects from that stroke.Edie Elkan’s ideafor the project came
2008 OCT YTD
Number of patients inour host hospitalswho received liveharp therapy ses-sions lasting five or more minutes419 4,961Number of hours of live harp therapydelivered to patients,their loved ones, staff and doctors at our host hospitals153 1,293
 
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THE BEDSIDE HARP
®
REPORT
Celebration for Latest Graduates from Our Programs
On August 17, 2008 Bedside Harp
®
 held its sixth annual graduationcelebration of our students, their  journeys and their work. The cele- bration was, as it has always been.hosted by Robert Wood JohnsonUniversity Hospital (RWJUH)Hamilton, at their Health and Well-ness Center in Mercerville, NJ.Also true to tradi-tion, it was a dayhonoring the ac-complishments of everyone at Bed-side Harp— instructional stu-dents, certificationstudents, instruc-tional teachers andof course, our new-est graduates.It is our practiceto present two veryspecial awards: theBedside Harp Ex-ceptional Student Award, given thisyear to Gladys Steward and the Bed-side Harp Legend Award, whichwent to John Marcantonio of RWJUH at Rahway (see page 3). Itwas challenging, but we managed tosurprise both awardees this year.The day was grand in everyway, beginning with Jamie Bry-son’s leading all of the graduates inThe Valley Hospital, and Leslie Stick-ley, who teaches at Abington Memo-rial Hospital, at Bensalem, at RWJUHHamilton and at The Valley Hospital.Two graduates who are not teachingfor Bedside Harp also completed thisnewest certification program: BarbaraRose Billings, Ph.D., CMHT, who cur-rently teaches in Marin County, Cali-fornia and Jane Taylor, MMus,HCMHT, who teaches in NorthernVirginia.Edie was honored by the graduateswith their presentations to her of anumber of wonderful gifts as well as a beautiful blessing delivered extempo-raneously by Gladys Steward. As isour tradition, the entire congregationsang to those graduating the blessing“L’chi Lach, Go Forth,” by DebbieFriedman. Thanks to Shannon Bar-letti, we have a wonderful DVD of theevent—the first time we were able tocapture the whole graduation on video!as he played “Amazing Grace” onhis amazing bagpipe. Speakers in-cluded John Marcantonio (see page 3for his remarks), Director of PatientRelations and Community Outreachfrom RWJUH at Rahway and Bar- bara Wadsworth, Senior Vice Presi-dent and Chief Nursing Officer atAbington Memorial Hospital inAbington, PA.Graduatingfrom our harptherapy certifi-cation programat the certifiedharp therapistlevel were:Karen Rife,Sister Jane Ur- ban, CarolineCampbell andAlyssa Martiniand at the mas-tery level, Bar- bara Jackson.This year’s graduation cere-mony also included the firstgraduation class of Bedside Harpcertified instructional mentors: Nancy Beal, who presently teachesat Abington Memorial Hospital,Lynda Lowell Mullusky, whotaught our classes at The ValleyHospital, Norine Stewart, whoteaches at RWJUH Rahway and
 Jamie Bryson, piper, led our graduation processional. Barbara Wadsworth, of AbingtonMemorial Hospital, addresses the graduates as Edie looks on.(From l. to r.) Edie Elkan, Jane Taylor, Norine Stewart, Lynda Lowell Mullusky, Nancy Beal, Karen Rife, Sister Jane Urban, Caroline Campbell and Barbara JacksonGladys Steward receives the2008 Exceptional Student Award 
 
Remarks to Bedside Harp
®
Graduates
A developmentally disabled patientscreams at the top of his lungs in ahospital’s observation unit. Patientssharing the room are rattled; attend-ing staff frustrated. Enter the bedsideharpist. She matches the tone of hisscream to one of her strings and be-gins to play around the tone. The patient continues to scream. Now she plucks harder and harder, solely onthat note, until she nearly equals hisvolume. The cacophony of voice andstring fill the room but only for mo-ments. In minutes the volume fadesand the tones fluctuate. The harpistnow plays around but not exclu-sively on the opening tone. Withinfive minutes the man is silent and atease. Only the fear of disturbing thisrelative peace keeps the other pa-tients and staff from spontaneousapplause. The harpist shifts againtoward a lullaby. The patient nearssleep.This incident, neither miracu-lous nor totally explainable, took  place at Robert Wood JohnsonUniversity Hospital at Rahwaynearly six years ago. Incidents likethese continue to happen in hospi-tals served by Bedside Harp.That screaming man perhaps is amascot for many patients inaudiblyscreaming inside. “I’m scared!Why me?! What if?! How long?!”This incident also serves as a paradigm for our program. BedsideHarp meets patients where they are;often in a time and space that tran-scend words. Nonverbal screams aregiven nonverbal tones and vibrationsthat somehow speak to fears, hopes,anxiety, regrets and dreams. Onlythe skillful harpist that morningcould communicate with thatscreaming man. The vibrations of her strings named his anguish, andfor a few moments lifted it from him,creating a place of rest. This is the profound work of Bedside Harp: tocompassionately and competentlycreate a space of rest for healing andwellness, with no expectations for the patient to speak or explain.I have the honor of sharing a legof our graduates’ journey in their certification program. In our work together we look at dreams as a tun-ing device for our inner selves.Dream work is a resource for namingand resolving our fears, our hopes,our anxieties. What truly moves us isoften less conscious, communicatedto our psyches in the language of symbol and metaphor in dreams. As professional healthcare workers wehave the responsibility of doing thatwork before we step into that sacredspace of a patient’s room.The screaming man serves as areminder for us as well. How willwe name and resolve our own inner screams? The certification programwhich you have successfully com- pleted has provided tools for thiswork. We need to use whatever works best so that we never con-fuse our screams with that of the patients. Indeed without that work,the static of our screams will pre-vent us from hearing those in the patient and our harps will never bein tune.Graduates for all that you are atthis moment and for that you willdo on behalf of patients and familymembers, I commend and thank you. Go boldly yet humbly into thatworld of screams and without aword create a space in which peo- ple can rest, heal and recover 
 John Marcantonio August 2008
Gladys Steward,John MarcantonioRecognized With BedsideHarp
®
Special Awards
The Bedside Harp
®
Legend Award ,created in 2005, recognizes the contri- butions of those in healthcare who haverecognized, supported and honored our work and our programs of excellence.Sheila Birnbaum, responsible for bring-ing Bedside Harp to life in 2002 atRobert Wood Johnson University Hos- pital (RWJUH) Hamilton, was theaward’s first recipient in August 2005,followed by Christy Stephenson, for-mer president and CEO of RWJUHHamilton in 2006, and Sharon Brown,Assistant Vice President, Acting Chief of Nursing also at RWUHJ Hamilton in2007. For the inspiration and recogni-tion John Marcantonio, of RWJUH atRahway has offered all of our studentsthrough the years, it was indeed fittingthat he receive the award this year.John was immediately taken withBedside Harp the day that Edie first didrounds at RWJUH at Rahway in 2003.A former drummer, he understood thehealing properties of vibration. Withinweeks after he and Edie met, BedsideHarp began its programs at his hospital.Our Exceptional Student Award isa newer creation. Rosemary Walker,longtime instructional student of Bed-side Harp, honorary photographer, andenthusiastic supporter of our work and programs, was the first to receive thisspecial award in August 2006. Sincethen it has been our custom to haveRosemary present the award to newer recipients. In 2007, Marilyn Hunter,from Florida, became the second toreceive this award. Marilyn took our summer intensive certification program,overcoming a number of difficulties totake the modules and to play hours atAbington Memorial Hospital. Therewas no question that our 2008 awardhad to be given to Gladys Stewart, alongtime Bedside Harp instructionalharp student who gets so much out of her classes and gives so much to others.Congratulations, John and Gladys— you are truly blessings to all of us!
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 VOLUME 5, NUMBER 4
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