In the Fall of 2013, The Miamians started a new outreach program that took them on monthly visits to several South Florida children’s hospitals to sing and entertain ailing children. Calling themselves “Music Medics,” as they dressed in medical scrubs in order to associate their warm and happy children’s songs with the medical staff taking care of the kids’ health, they’d go from room to room singing to children that would otherwise be confined to their hospital beds, along with their familes and any visitors accompanying them.
“You’ve Got A Friend in Me” from the movie(s) “Toy Story” became our signature song.
Currently, Miamians Music Medics quartets visit Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, and Holtz Children’s Hospital at Jackson Memorial in Miami. The Music Medics work hand-in-hand with the amazing “Child Life Department” at each of these of these hospitals. They have made hundreds of hospital visits since the start of the program and brought smiles to the faces of thousands of kids and hospital staff members.
After 5 years of having successfully run the program locally and witnessed its wonderful effect on the children and the hospitals, as well as on our own Music Medics participants, the Miamians decided to visit their international organization, the “Barbershop Harmony Society” (BHS) in Nashville, Tennessee, to share the program with them. As a result, the BHS produced a video about the program and showed it to all of the attendees at their 2018 International Convention in Orlando, Florida. Since then, the Music Medics Program has exploded across the country. We understand that the program is currently being run by as many as 65 Barbershop choruses across the US, and even one in Australia. All of that growth has been very capably spearheaded by the Nashville chorus’s Music Medics leadership team.
In the paragraph above, we mentioned The Miamians having run the program successfully for 5 years. Well, in all frankness, we have to admit that the program actually runs itself. This is because each quartet works out a permanent standing schedule with the Child Life Department at each hospital, such as “the 3rd Thursday of the month at 10:30 AM.” Another quartet may do the 2nd or 3rd Tuesday, etc. in the different hospitals. That way if one of the guys can’t make it on their permanently assigned day, he can work on getting a substitute way ahead of time. Also, the Child Life Departments know exactly when to expect us. By the way, the Child Life staffers love us, and we’ve even been told that sometimes they “fight” to be the ones who escort us around the hospital on the appointed day. Haha! We’ve recently even discovered that at least one of our performances has been viewed and “liked” millions of times on TikTok, and drawn thousands upon thousands of positive comments.
@_.reshebby ps: it worked btw! 🥲 | i LOVE humanity, this was so wholesome and definitely the highlight of my week:) ❤️🩹#acapella #chronicillness #sicklecelldisease #miami #bahamiantiktok🇧🇸
♬ original sound - reshelove🤎
The Music Medics and The Miamians Barbershop Harmony Chorus wish to express their heart-felt thanks to STRATEGIC PARTNERS, INC., manufacturers and distributors of the “Dickies” brand of medical uniforms, for the generous donation of the medical “scrubs” that the Miamians Music Medics wear on their visits.
What Music Medics means to the children
The children we sing to may respond by smiling, clapping, shimmying in their beds or even singing along. But sometimes, we even get some feedback from one of our own.
This is from one of our Music Medics:
“I have to tell about my ‘Medics Moment’ today. We were singing ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’ to one of the kids. The dad from a couple beds down asked if we’d sing the same thing to his little boy, who was 4 or 5 years old. He was with the nurse, had a tourniquet on his arm, and was about to get a big old needle in his arm for what I assume was big blood work.
Poor little guy was terrified. Crying, clinging to his mom, doing his best – but scared in a way only a little kid under those circumstances could be. His dad got him to focus on us, and we sang. While he never completely calmed down, he stopped crying while he watched us and the nurse was able to do her thing. By the time the song finished, the needle was in and taped down, and he was able to be held by his parents. Dad videoed part of our song, and was very, very thankful for us helping his boy through the procedure.
And that, my friends, is why we do this.”