GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — Healing can happen in so many ways and there is a special program at Park Nicollet that provides healing along with music. The music therapy program has been around since 1995 but it’s one that many people might not be familiar with.
"I want to help. I don't know if it sounds cheesy but that's what brings me to where I am right now,” said Yu-Hsin Chang, an intern in the program.
Chang is a classically trained pianist from Taiwan. She is studying for her master’s in music therapy at Colorado State University and came to Minnesota to be part of the nationally recognized intern program at Park Nicollet.
“It's pretty eye opening to know, wow, I can actually use music to help, and there's tons of research saying how music can be effective in different psychological, social, emotional areas, and that can really be impactful for patients for patients who need it,” Chang said.
Park Nicollet’s program provides music therapy at Methodist Hospital, for cancer patients, people with eating disorders and even those in home hospice care. That’s where Chang met Charlene Heinrich.
“I think I have always liked music,” Heinrich said.
For Heinrich, the sessions are calming and bring her back to another time. Like the time she requested Chang play ABBA.
“I used to have a recording of ABBA what I used to do with ABBA is vacuum my floors and what not,” Heinrich said.
“When she played it, did it make you want to get up and clean some things?” I asked.
“Not really,” she laughed. “I think I'm over it now."
“I can say that when she has requested certain songs that she really enjoys, especially ones that are from her younger years, it brings up memories for her, and sometimes they are memories that I've never heard so, I get to hear things and learn new things about her past which is fun,” said Heinrich's daughter Teri Penski.
It's those moments, where Change knows her passion is truly helping others.
“How unique each patient responds differently to music and that's just something cool to see,” she said.
Chang says she eventually plans to go back to Taiwan and help grow music therapy in her home country.