Clinical Services: Adult through Geriatric

• Cardiac Rehabilitation • Family Medicine • HIV & AIDS • Intensive Care Units • Maternity • Music & Health Clinic • Oncology • Pain Medicine & Palliative Care • Pulmonary Rehabilitation • Respiratory Step-down Unit • Sickle Cell Anemia • Spinal Cord Conditions • Additional Inpatient Services

Adult through Geriatric

Photo by Stephan Elleringmann

Welcome to the Louis and Lucille Armstrong Music Therapy Program at Beth Israel Medical Center . This program was founded by Dr. Joanne Loewy in 1994, and is made possible through a generous grant from the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, Inc., with additional funding from Charles Lawrence Keith and Clara Miller Foundation and the Recording Academy (the Grammy Foundation). We serve patients, families and staff at Beth Israel's Petrie Campus and the Phillips Ambulatory Care Center (PACC) as well as local schools in the NYC area. Our mission ensures that our staff provides state-of-the-art care to complement medical treatment and our team is trained in the most current music psychotherapy techniques in pain management, sedation, end-of-life, and breathing modalities of music and healing.
Our expert team of seven provides utmost care and creative attention to the individuals we serve. Clinical inpatient and outpatient services include daily sessions with patients in the NICU, Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Maternity, Oncology, Respiratory Step Down , ICU's, Peter Kruger Clinic, Orthopedics, Hospice, Maplethorpe Residence, Pain Medicine and Palliative Care, and Sickle Cell Disease.

Care provided through the Louis and Lucille Armstrong Music Therapy Program for adult patients through geriatrics covers a broad scope of services in order to best address the diverse needs of this large population base. These services are offered on both an inpatient and outpatient basis, and are currently comprised of work in following care units:

• Family Medicine, which offers complementary services to medical treatment for all members of the family unit, including children through geriatrics, coping with a wide range of medical and psychosocial needs
• Inpatient and outpatients services for adults with HIV/AIDS, which provides inpatient care in collaboration with many treatment teams within Beth Israel and outpatient care offered through the Mapplethorpe residence located in Beth Israel's Petrie Campus
• Several Intensive Care Units (ICU's) within Beth Israel receive services provided by our music therapy team, including the Surgical ICU, Medical ICU, and Cardiac Care Unit. For information on infant and child ICU services, click here.
• Maternity, which offers individual and group sessions for expectant and new parents, families, and caregivers, along with newborns, and includes live music experiences as well as parent education in the uses of music to support newborns
• Oncology, designed to address physical, emotional and spiritual needs of patients and their families on the inpatient unit who are coping with symptoms of disease, treatment and hospitalization related to potentially life-threatening cancers
• Pain Medicine & Palliative Care, which offers services for adult through geriatric patients on various units at Beth Israel. The music therapy team works in conjunction with both the Pain Consult and Palliative Care Consults teams through the Department of Pain Medicine & Palliative Care to offer interdisciplinary care in the form of daily sessions for patients having a variety of diagnoses
• Respiratory Step-down Unit, which offers music therapy to support patients on mechanical ventilation as well as family and staff on the unit
• Sickle Cell, which offers outpatient services through a monthly, community-based music therapy group, as well as inpatient services through daily bedside sessions for patients and/or family members coping with this chronic illness
• Orthopedic Surgery offers music therapy as a complementary service to medical treatment for issues related to congenital, acute and chronic spinal disorders, and post-operative pain. Services on this unit address the needs of patients, families and staff through individual, group and environmentally-based music therapy sessions
• Additional Inpatient areas, which service other adult through geriatric patients, and support individuals referred for music therapy consultation based on a variety of medical and psychosocial needs, including pre/post operative care, psychiatry, neurology, rehabilitation, general and internal medicine

September 19, 2005 marked the opening of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine. The Center is an extension of the Louis and Lucille Armstrong Music Therapy Program, and offers advanced level out-patient care for children and adults. Services for adult and geriatric populations currently available through the Center include:

• Cardiac Rehabilitation, which offers music therapy as a complementary approach to achieve shared goals in the facilitation of patient health and wellbeing through Music for Cardiac Advances in Rehabilitation (CAIR). This program is provided in collaboration with the Center for Cardiac and Pulmonary Health
• Music & Health Clinic, which will provide special services to musicians and performing artists in New York City and the surrounding area
• Pulmonary Rehabilitation, also through collaboration with the Center for Cardiac and Pulmonary Health, offers music therapy treatment as a complementary approach to achieving treatment goals and wellness through Music for Advances in Respiration (AIR).

The Louis and Lucille Armstrong Music Therapy Program, with the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine, maintain the highest quality musical instruments from around the world. Our team is trained in multi-cultural music and includes a variety of therapists with experience in clinical improvisation, music meditation, guided visualization, African drumming techniques, song writing, and song sensitation, with background training in piano, guitar, string and wind playing, and voice.

Our program has a long history of scientific research, performed with an interdisciplinary team of health professionals, including doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, physical therapist and others. Collaborative relationships with interdisciplinary team members are maintained through all services provided to support treatment goals in all aspects of health and well-being.

Related Research and Articles
For articles from peer-reviewed journals, research studies and authoritative literature, please see the bibliographies in the Suggested Reading section. Additional information is available through websites listed on the Related Links page.

For Questions and Further Information
For questions and further information about music therapy or referrals for yourself, your loved ones or your patients, please call (212) 420-2704 or email info@musicandmedicine.org.