[Inaudible].
Hi, this is Henry Ford Health System News, and I'm Dana Jay.
We always bring you great stories about how our team members are making a
difference in the lives of our patients, our community, and each other.
But this time we start on a particularly high note.
[
singing:star spangled banner yet wave].
The National Anthem is tricky for even the most seasoned singer,
but it's just the right challenge for the Henry Ford Motor City Upbeats.
Also, it's a.
Song that most people know the words to.
So asking them to consciously intentionally use the words,
um, that can really enhance and start to fire up different areas of the brain as
well. The Motor.
City Upbeats is a therapeutic vocal choir director.
Liz Equeda says the goal isn't to make the members good singers it's to make
sure that singing is doing the members good.
Really we're trying to just support these, um,
patients and members of the community who are struggling with their voices for
various different reasons. The.
Choir is the brain child of Dr. Alice Silbergleit amateur singer,
and full-time director of Henry Ford's Speech and Language Sciences Disorders
Division in the Department of Neurology. She noticed a trend among her patients.
So frequently.
They would finish therapy and I would see them a month later and they would have
regressed a little bit because they had not had the opportunity to use their
voice.
[
Vocal excercises].
She prescribed choir practice because singing and warmup exercises
incorporate a range of movement and breathing techniques.
Singing is an aerobic activity.
And so if we combine moving our fingers and our hands
with our mouths,
we are challenging people's brains and we're keeping them motivated.
And we're building neurological connections that they might not have had before
by.
Just sitting there. Cynthia Klain has been with the upbeats from the beginning.
It helps me, because she's carrying over from what
the PT has been teaching me.
[
Singing: Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do] Before.
The pandemic, the choir performed around town.
They carried their tunes through lockdown, rehearsing,
online attracting members from all over Michigan.
Rehearsals for their performance of the Star Spangled Banner have them back
together and hoping others will join them.
Liz get us, um, like, like spunky and,
and like, you know, we get into it and, you know, makes it a lot of fun.
I would just love to share the experience with as many people as possible.
The folks in the choir say the most important thing to remember is you don't
have to be a good singer to join the Motor City Upbeats.
It's open to patients, caregivers, family, friends, and the community.
And now let's take a minute to recognize the efforts of folks from across
Henry Ford,
who have been working so hard to get our team members and the community
vaccinated against COVID-19.
It's been about six months since Henry Ford received the first doses of the
Pfizer vaccine.
Since then our team members have been busy inoculating employees at employee
health clinics,
patients at Henry Ford vaccine clinics and community members at dozens of
remote locations in Metro Detroit and the Jackson area.
As of June 18th,
our team had administered more than 324,400
doses at more than 97 vaccination sites. Wow.
Now another story behind one of the works of art that are part of the healing
arts program at the Brigitte Harris Cancer Pavilion in Detroit.
Johanna Curwood says she sculpts with resin.
In this piece she layers meaningful artifacts representing our patients and
our benefactors into that resin.
I called it Rust to Roses Brigitte and Mort's story.
He starts off talking about, uh,
how he was introduced to Henry Ford hospital via jumping off a roof onto a rusty
nail. And then obviously with Brigitte and her roses,
and I thought rusty nails and roses, how did they fit together?
Before I started the project, they gave me the leaps, you know,
I really wanted to make sure that the survivors were shining.
I wanted them to like being included within it.
I had a lot of conversations with my dad when he was sick with cancer. He said,
I feel like I'm drowning in this turning revolving for
techs being sucked in. So I really wanted to incorporate that feeling,
but I also wanted it to be as a survivor would feel like
once they've been through this treatment, that the world is still there.
And that the through the tunnel is,
is the most amazing life that you've still got to lead.
Henry Ford is so forward-thinking with their cancer research.
They're doing work that corresponds with the person who's got the cancer.
It's not just not just a name. You're not just a name on a leaf. If it was 2004,
you know, my dad might still be here, right? You might have a league of his own.
And my painting, you know, you know,
I spent a lot of time on my own acting out here.
And I talked to my dad all the time. He was right here with me when he painting,
I felt every one of those reminders and what they've been through.
And I get it.
I really hope that they feel hope
they want to be something because there's so many tiny minuscule details in it.
So I want them to get lost.
And it reminds me of when you hold a marble up to the light,
when you're a child and dance around and it just brings on and is playful,
that is going to give them some escape with it,
some inspiration and hope.
And I love that.
You'll find that meaningful piece of art in the multipurpose room on the first
floor at the cancer pavilion. Alright,
let's send you off with the featured photo.
Here's the team from Henry Ford West Bloomfield hospital that rocked the block
with Habitat for Humanity in Pontiac. The crew worked in three homes,
spiffing up the exteriors with some landscaping painting and porch repairs.
We know you and your team are hard at work on all kinds of things.
So tell us what you're up to send us your story ideas or photos to news
tips@hfhs.org. Thanks for watching. And I'll see you around.