YOUR HEALTH: Helping Emmett heal; The magic of music

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (Ivanhoe Newswire) - Being hospitalized is a difficult and often traumatic experience for anyone, but for children, it can be especially challenging. They are forced to endure painful medical treatments, unfamiliar people and separation from their families. As a result, many children experience anxiety, depression, and other emotional challenges while in the hospital. But now, therapies that don’t involve any medications, needle pricks, or painful surgeries are helping kids heal.

This is more than just play time for little Emmett Bleyle.

Each song helps him heal.

Emmett’s mom, Rylie says, “Emmet’s official diagnosis is PMM2 congenital disorder of glycosylation.”

Rylie was told her baby boy would not live to his first birthday.

“They didn’t think he had another six months in him. And here we are,” Rylie says.

Five-year-old Emmett averages two to three hospital stays a month with a care team of more than 18 specialists. His mother believes a key to his survival is this … playing the piano.

Rylie says, “I started seeing Emmett when he was like 18 months old. He was so small, and he couldn’t sit up.”

Katie Lahue, Expressive therapist at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital believes music, dance, art, and play helps hospitalized kids through the physical, emotional, and psychological issues that come with illnesses and long hospital stays. “Music access is a different part of your brain than other modalities do. And so, through music and the arts, we’re able to accomplish different goals.”

Using music to motivate kids like Emmett to work on different developmental goals.

“And also, it’s a way for him to express, kind of, his process being here and a way for him to express how he’s feeling, what he’s going through.”

Eliana Rivera, Music Therapist at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital says, “Sometimes we can reach these kiddos better than other providers here in the hospital can.”

Studies show expressive therapies help children manage their pain and anxiety, boost immunity, and contribute to faster physical healing.

Rylie says, “Letting Emmett emotionally reset that way through dancing and through singing and through playing with instruments and things like that, I think that’s kind of reset his body to the point where we’ve walked away for some instances that we shouldn’t have.”

The magic of music, a powerful tool in helping kids like Emmett heal.

The music therapist at Intermountain also do something called legacy work. They talk to the parents and work with them to create a song when their child is nearing their end of life. They play the song for the child, record it, creating a special memory for the parents.

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