Security officer uses music to heal at St. Claire HealthCare
Morehead Kentucky January 30, 2023 If you walk down the hall of a hospital, it’s rare to hear a sweet song.
There is plenty of beeping and chatter, but music can have the power to heal.
Outside St. Claire HealthCare, it’s hard to escape cold and gray on a January morning. Inside, though, it’s warming souls.
“We’ve pastored since ’82,” said patient David Starcher, sitting next to his wife, Marie. “Together.”
Together, inside the oncology unit, it’s the melody that heals. Starcher was diagnosed with leukemia last year.
“That kind of music,” said Starcher. “String instrument. I think everybody, most everybody, it goes deep down their bloodline.”
From patients, to nurses, even the hospital’s security officer finds the peace.
“First growing up, I didn’t really like it, but it kind of grew on me,” said Ricky Lewis.
The echoes of Bluegrass grew on Lewis since his teenage years.
“My dad pastors a church,” he said. “It’s a blessing to me. I’m more than happy to do it.”
Lewis has worked at the hospital since the early 2000s. He says from time to time, his parents will join him in the oncology unit to play music for doctors, nurses, and patients.
