Hospital Nurse Soothes Pain and Brings Patients to Tears by Singing to Them, Sings 'Amazing Grace' (VIDEO)
During his early days as a nurse, Jared Axen sang to himself in the hallway while preparing to work with patients. When his charges at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Valencia, Calif. started wandering into the halls to the sound of his voice, he realized song was a gift he could give them during their pain-filled days.
So, he started singing to his patients. Performing was nothing new to Axen, who, though homeschooled from kindergarten to 12th grade, performed internationally with high school choirs. Now, the venue was much more intimate, his audience usually a single patient laying weak in a hospital bed.
The patients melted under Axen's classically trained voice. Smiles spread and tears were shed, but something even more remarkable happened. Axen's patients started requesting less pain medication because, well, they experienced less pain. Fewer mood stabilizers were handed out as loneliness and depression dissolved under the nurse's musical care.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Jared Axen's unique and ultra-personal methods did not go unnoticed. He won the Southern California Hospital Hero Award in November 2012. In 2013, he was named "Nurse of the Year" by the CBS show "The Doctors."
The Los Angeles Times video feature intimately captures his story and loving, attentive work. Below that, Axen sings "Amazing Grace" to a patient, who afterwards loves him like her own son.
