Clinical Services: Infants, Children & Teens

• Asthma Initiative Program • Developmental Pediatrics • Inpatient Pediatrics • HIV & AIDS Services • Music & Health Clinic • NICU

Infants, Children & Teens

Photo by Stephan Elleringmann

Welcome to the Louis and Lucille Armstrong Music Therapy Program at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City . 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.

Infant, children and teen services through the Louis and Lucille Armstrong Music Therapy Program range in treatment for premature infants and their families to adolescent and young adults, and offer both inpatient and out-patient care. Units of care for infants, children and teens are currently comprised of the following areas:

• The NICU , which offers live music for infants and families to enhance healthy growth and development for premature and full-term infants, as well as facilitate parent-infant bonding in an intensive care environment
• Inpatient pediatrics,offering complementary services to medical treatment provided for infants through teenagers with a wide range of medical and psycho-social needs. Clinical services for inpatient pediatric patients include music therapy on the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Pediatric Inpatient Unit, and the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit
• The Pediatric HIV services provide long-term specialty services for children with HIV and their families on an out-patient basis

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. Pediatric services through the Center include:

• The Asthma Initiative Program, which explores the effects of music therapy and wind playing on breathing and quality of life of children and teens with asthma
• The Music and Health Clinic, which will provide special services to musicians and performing artists in New York City and the surrounding area in the coming year.

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 inter-disciplinary team of health professionals, including doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains and others. Collaborative relationships with inter-disciplinary team members are maintained through 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 .