The Covid-19 pandemic has created immense pressure on healthcare workers. Long working hours and increasing cases mean that they must always be prepared to serve multiple patients.
Caregivers are getting burned out caring for the COVID-19
patients with severe symptoms. Thinking of their conditions, in an attempt to encourage their caregivers, a COVID-19 a patient named Grover Wilhelmsen played the violin at McKay-Dee Hospital, Utah.
In the video shared by Intermountain Healthcare, Grover can be seen intubated and sitting on his hospital bed. He reportedly played the Tennessee waltz and church hymns for his caretakers.
Grover is reportedly a retired orchestra teacher and has been intubated for treatment at the hospital. He wanted to show his gratitude to his caretakers by playing the violin.
Since the retired teacher is intubated and unable to speak, he spoke with RN Ciara Sase in writing. Grover shared the wish that he would like to play in the hospital room and asked what he thought about it. Responding to his request, Ciara said: “We would love to hear you play, it would bring so much brightness and positivity to our environment.”
But Ciara also had to get the MD’s approval to bring the musical instrument to Grover’s neighborhood. It was decided that she would stay in the rooms taking care of all the lines and tubes while the teacher played the violin.
When Grover played, about a dozen caregivers were in the ICU to hear him play the tunes. Another nurse, Matt Harper, said watching Grover play felt like a dream. He said that he is used to seeing miserable patients with this condition, but Grover turned this into a positive. The nurse said that he played the violin several times over two days, but that he felt too ill again and had to be sedated.
Grover spent a month fighting COVID-19 in ICU and has now been transferred to a long-term intensive care facility for recovery.
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