Nurse Gives 'Little Bit of Love, of Faith, of Hope' To COVID Patients with Violin
Hospitals have a very specific set of sounds, and they’re not always pleasant. Beeps from monitors, the whir of machines, carts getting wheeled back and forth and people crying out or just being eerily quiet create an unsettling soundtrack for a patient.
But at El Pino Hospital in Santiago, Chile, two times a week around dinner time, a much sweeter melody slices through the background noise.
This musical reprieve is thanks to nurse Dámaris Silva, who instead of taking the much-needed break to calm her own nerves or catch up on missed sleep, decides to walk the halls of the COVID-19 ward with her violin and bring “a little bit of love, of faith, of hope,” she told Reuters.
Silva plays a variety of songs, though she focuses on popular Latin tunes — music that her patients will recognize and that might bring them a moment of peace.
“As soon as I walk in, the patients brighten, they seem happier; they smile and applaud,” she said.
“[I’m] delivering a little bit of love, delivering a little bit of faith, a little bit of hope with my violin — which perhaps is something more than the music,” Silva told Reuters, according to Fox News.
“It’s not just a song, but rather every time I do it, I do it from my heart.”
For the nurse and musician, it’s more than just playing music. It’s a way to serve, and a way to honor God.
Her posts on Facebook have a strong, uniting thread running through them that highlights her faith.
“God you have been faithful,” she captioned one photo.
“Make it more than just music,” she wrote in another. “God you first.”
Her friends have recognized her gift and message as well, and have posted on her Facebook to encourage her.
“I congratulate you Dámaris, I think it’s what we all feel to see you through the press, much more than music, to God,” one wrote.
Others have found their own ways to lift patients‘ spirits through singing happy birthday, applauding when patients are discharged and writing letters to patients, but Silva’s is definitely unique and a lovely way to use a gift to encourage those who truly need it.
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