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Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville.

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Speaker 2: Hi, I'm Sarah Harrelson, your host of Taking a Walk Nashville,

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Speaker 2: and today I'm here at the Musicians on Call office

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Speaker 2: with Melinda LaFollette. Melinda is the director of PR and

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Speaker 2: Events at Musicians on Call, a nonprofit organization that brings

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Speaker 2: live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients, families

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Speaker 2: and caregivers, and healthcare environments since nineteen ninety nine. I'm

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Speaker 2: grateful to be a volunteer musician with this organization since

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Speaker 2: twenty fifteen, performing for over nineteen thousand hospital patients, and

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Speaker 2: I have truly seen the healing power of music volunteering

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Speaker 2: with MOC, and I'm excited to talk about all things

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Speaker 2: Musicians on Call today. So Melinda, thank you for being

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Speaker 2: here on Taking a Walk Nashville.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely thanks for having me, of.

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Speaker 4: Course, So how did you get involved with this organization yourself?

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Speaker 5: Well, I learned about Musicians on Call before I moved

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Speaker 5: to Nashville in twenty eleven, and I knew it was

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Speaker 5: something I wanted to be a part of. Just loved

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Speaker 5: the idea of bringing music, which I love so much,

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Speaker 5: in the hospitals and being able to help people in

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Speaker 5: there are times of need in those areas, and the

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Speaker 5: beauty of musicians on call is you don't have to

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Speaker 5: be a musician, which I am not. There is a

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Speaker 5: role for people who are not musically inclined, and so

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Speaker 5: I knew that I really wanted to sign up for it.

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Speaker 5: So as soon as I moved to Nashville, I filled

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Speaker 5: out an application and started volunteering as volunteer guide and

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Speaker 5: then got involved in our Young Professionals committee and was

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Speaker 5: just very passionate about everything that we do in our mission.

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Speaker 3: And so then when an opportunity.

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Speaker 5: Came up to join the staff and lead our PR

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Speaker 5: efforts and our live events, was like, please sign me up.

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Speaker 5: And have been on the staff now for almost eight years,

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Speaker 5: so it's been really really wonderful to just be a

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Speaker 5: part of all aspects of the organization.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that's great and a great point that you bring up.

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Speaker 4: You don't have to be a musician to be involved.

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Speaker 4: If you love music, you can be a guide and

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Speaker 4: guide musicians around to different rooms and the hospital. I

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Speaker 4: actually started off as a guide because there is a

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Speaker 4: wait list to be a musician, so I guided for

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Speaker 4: a year before I transition to a volunteer musician. So

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Speaker 4: if maybe musicians are listening in they want to get

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Speaker 4: involved in whatever city they are located in, is there

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Speaker 4: usually a wait list to be a volunteer musician.

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Speaker 5: It really depends on It depends on how many different

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Speaker 5: programs we have going in that particular city and how

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Speaker 5: many hospital partners we have. Obviously, the more hospital partners

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Speaker 5: were able to bring in and the more frequently we're

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Speaker 5: able to go into the hospitals, then we can bring

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Speaker 5: more musicians and more guides on board to make sure

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Speaker 5: that those spots are filled. But so for the cities

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Speaker 5: that might have multiple programs, there could be more opportunities.

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Speaker 5: And for those who might have a more limited opportunity,

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Speaker 5: then yeah, the list does kind of get long because

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Speaker 5: once people get involved in it and they know how

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Speaker 5: much they love it, and they see the impact that

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Speaker 5: the music is having in the hospitals, they don't want

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Speaker 5: to stop. Really don't lose volunteers, you don't want somebody

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Speaker 5: signs on. They're on for a good long time. So

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Speaker 5: we are always actively working to really expand our programs

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Speaker 5: to make sure that the more people that want to

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Speaker 5: be involved can be.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and Musicians on Call has expanded tremendously over the years.

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Speaker 4: You're not just in Nashville. You partner with hospitals and

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Speaker 4: major cities like Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, pretty

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Speaker 4: much all the major cities. How many states and hospitals

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Speaker 4: are you affiliated with?

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Speaker 5: Now, Well, we're in about twenty one different markets, so

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Speaker 5: that's different cities, like you said, coast to coast, and

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Speaker 5: then we have about sixty little more than sixty hospital partners.

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Speaker 5: So within all those markets, we might have one to

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Speaker 5: three different hospitals that we go in visiting a lot

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Speaker 5: of different demographics of patients. Will play for adults and children,

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Speaker 5: We visit oncology units. We go to veterans facilities to

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Speaker 5: perform for hospitalized veterans. We might be at a hospice center,

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Speaker 5: a behavioral health center. So there's a lot of different

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Speaker 5: types of people that we can perform.

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Speaker 4: For, and not just in person, but you have a

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Speaker 4: virtual program as well, so someone's not located near one

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Speaker 4: of these cities, they can volunteer virtually.

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Speaker 5: Correct absolutely, Yeah, that just requires a camera to be

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Speaker 5: able to log into Zoom and it all goes from there,

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Speaker 5: and so the guide and the musician also don't have

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Speaker 5: to be in the same city to be on the

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Speaker 5: same ship, so they can log in from where they

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Speaker 5: are and then the hospitals will tune in directly to

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Speaker 5: those in links as well, and so then they'll be

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Speaker 5: performing for patients all over the country too.

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Speaker 3: It is just a really great way to bring a lot.

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Speaker 5: Of people together at one time who can't physically meet together.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, especially during the pandemic, it was a great way

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Speaker 4: for us to still reach patients. And we can't see

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Speaker 4: the patients on Zoom, but we know they're tuning in

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Speaker 4: through their iPads or even on their TVs through Seacrest Studios.

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Speaker 4: They'll type in their song request.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, song request questions.

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Speaker 5: I love to get to know the musicians and you know,

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Speaker 5: the music they like and things like that to play.

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Speaker 5: So it's really fun way to engage with folks.

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Speaker 3: It is.

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Speaker 4: So what are some moments you have had with musicians

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Speaker 4: on call where you have experienced the healing power of music.

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Speaker 5: There was so many getting to go into the hospital

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Speaker 5: for so long, you know, even just small things from

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Speaker 5: seeing patients who had kind of a shiver going on

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Speaker 5: just as a reaction to medication. Then when we come

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Speaker 5: in and playing music for them, like halfway through the song,

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Speaker 5: it just stops and their body physically responds to the

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Speaker 5: music and calms down.

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Speaker 3: And the one.

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Speaker 5: Time I remember that happening is the person said that

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Speaker 5: that was the first time that day that they had

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Speaker 5: stopped having that kind of shiver from what they were experiencing.

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Speaker 5: So the music did.

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Speaker 3: That for them.

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Speaker 5: And I've also seen, you know, I remember being in

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Speaker 5: a room with a mom and her daughter, and the

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Speaker 5: daughter was the patient. She was laying in bed, and

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Speaker 5: she was very open to hearing the music, but you

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Speaker 5: could tell she was tired and not feeling great. And

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Speaker 5: throughout the song, the musicians started to play a song

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Speaker 5: that she knew really well, and she just kind of

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Speaker 5: sat up in her bed and actually started singing along

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Speaker 5: with the musician, and that just brought the mom to

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Speaker 5: tears because you could tell that that was something that

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Speaker 5: the daughter really needed, and then the mom really needed

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Speaker 5: to see her daughter just feeling better in that moment. So,

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Speaker 5: you know, it's it's really miraculous the things that music

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Speaker 5: will do and how it brings people together, and how

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Speaker 5: like a musician might end up playing a song that

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Speaker 5: means something to the couple that's in the room it

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Speaker 5: would have been their wedding song or a song they

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Speaker 5: had first heard when they first started dating, and it

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Speaker 5: just brings back those memories and they're able to share

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Speaker 5: that happy time together even in the hospital environment. So

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Speaker 5: it's really magical what might come out of the song

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Speaker 5: choices that the musicians can make, whether it's based on

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Speaker 5: a request or just completely out of the blue they

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Speaker 5: picked in their mind the right song. Yeah, and they

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Speaker 5: all the songs that take people back to those moments

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Speaker 5: of where they heard those songs or reminds them of

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Speaker 5: why they love those songs, and that just changes the

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Speaker 5: mood for them and music. You know, there are studies

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Speaker 5: that show music has these physical and emotional and mental

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Speaker 5: benefits for patients and their caregivers and their family members

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Speaker 5: who are in the hospital. It can do things like

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Speaker 5: improved blood pressure and just their overall outlook and it

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Speaker 5: helps them manage their stress. And so it's really important

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Speaker 5: that all of those folks, the patients, their families, and

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Speaker 5: the caregivers really get to experience the music, which is.

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Speaker 3: Why I like to bring it to all of them.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and I do love when it happens out of

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Speaker 4: the blue. You know, you have some patients or family

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Speaker 4: members that will give you song requests. But it's always

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Speaker 4: so special when you know, the patient tells you play

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Speaker 4: anything you like and you play them a song that

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Speaker 4: is really meaningful for them. That's always a special moment.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Absolutely, And like you said, it's so great for not

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Speaker 4: only the patients, but it's meaningful for the family that's

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Speaker 4: in the room, the caregivers, the nurses who are in

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Speaker 4: the hospital working long shifts. Music is definitely something special

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Speaker 4: for them. And I've witnessed myself people you know in

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Speaker 4: a coma like state who have you know, slightly moved

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Speaker 4: their hands when the music starts playing. So you never

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Speaker 4: know how it's going to affect someone. And this isn't

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Speaker 4: you know, music therapy where a music therapist comes in,

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Speaker 4: but it still brings so much joy and healing just

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Speaker 4: by performing a song for the patient.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and it's very brief to you know, it's just

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Speaker 5: one song, so it's just a few minutes, but in

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Speaker 5: that very short amount of time, it can just completely

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Speaker 5: change somebody's experience, completely, just change their day and really

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Speaker 5: help put them on a better path in their healing.

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Speaker 5: And like you said, with the caregivers, it can help

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Speaker 5: them just kind of reset their long, long shifts and

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Speaker 5: how long hours are put on their feet taking care

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Speaker 5: of other people and just being able to take a

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Speaker 5: moment to think about something else and take a breath

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Speaker 5: and just we've done our own studies that have shown

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Speaker 5: that the music really helps even the relationship between the

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Speaker 5: patient and the caregivers. It kind of helps benefit them

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Speaker 5: because they get experience it together. So this is something

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Speaker 5: that they get to then enjoy together and it really

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Speaker 5: helps their experience and working together too.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it definitely brings just great connection by being in

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Speaker 4: person there with someone playing a song. But you know,

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Speaker 4: when there's not programs going on, you also have in

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Speaker 4: some facilities musicians on call iPads correct where people can

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Speaker 4: listen to playlist of healing music.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, or streaming programs. So we will provide pre programmed

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Speaker 5: tablets in the facilities and noise counseling headphones. And so

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Speaker 5: they need some music, then they can kind of check

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Speaker 5: it out almost like at a library and bring it

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Speaker 5: to their bed and just sit and listen. And it's

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Speaker 5: the playlists that are on there are really curated, especially

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Speaker 5: for things like calming or just helping with anything they

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Speaker 5: might be experiencing. They can pick what mood they might

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Speaker 5: be in or what type of music they want to

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Speaker 5: hear and just be able to sit and listen to

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Speaker 5: it and take a break.

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Speaker 4: That's wonderful, And we have listeners all across the nation.

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Speaker 4: Some might even work in the medical field, and let's

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Speaker 4: say a nurse or someone is listening in and they're like,

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Speaker 4: I'm not really sure if the hospital I work at

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Speaker 4: has a musicians on call or live music program or

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Speaker 4: has the streaming service. If they are interested in maybe

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Speaker 4: getting in touch with musicians on call to bring that

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Speaker 4: to the hospital they work at or facility work they

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Speaker 4: work at, what's the best place to reach out to you?

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Speaker 5: Well, on the Musicians on Call website, which is musicians

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Speaker 5: on Call dot org, there is a whole section dedicated

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Speaker 5: to hospitals and hospital partners, so they can see which

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Speaker 5: hospitals in which areas we might be in and then

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Speaker 5: if we're either not in their facility or if they

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Speaker 5: can can't find the information they're looking for, there is

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Speaker 5: a form that they can fill out to bring music

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Speaker 5: to their facility, and that kind of puts them on

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Speaker 5: our radar and lets us know they're interested and what

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Speaker 5: their capabilities are and helps us in our planning with

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Speaker 5: our expansion and bringing our music programs into different facilities

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Speaker 5: where the interest is and the interest is growing. We're

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Speaker 5: getting requests one hundreds of requests all the time for

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Speaker 5: other facilities that want us to come there, so we

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Speaker 5: definitely want to come as quick as they can and

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Speaker 5: we're working really hard to make it happen. But yeah,

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Speaker 5: letting us know of the interest is definitely very helpful.

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Speaker 4: That's great. Yeah, and you can also apply to be

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Speaker 4: a volunteer through Musicians on Call dot org as well, right.

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Speaker 5: You can, yes, And so I can also talk a

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Speaker 5: little bit more about the volunteer guide and give a

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Speaker 5: little bit more information on that.

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Speaker 3: But that role is meant to be.

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Speaker 5: Like the eyes and ears of musicians on call in

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Speaker 5: the facility during those shifts, so they will go into

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Speaker 5: the rooms first to introduce the program and introduce themselves

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Speaker 5: and ask the patient if they want to hear music.

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Speaker 5: Is very important to us that the patients feel like

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Speaker 5: they have a choice in it, because sometimes people are

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Speaker 5: just really not feeling well. They could be in the

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Speaker 5: hospital for any number of reasons and really just need

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Speaker 5: time to rest, and so we don't want to interrupt that,

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Speaker 5: so the guide can come in and find out if

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Speaker 5: they're interested first, and if they are, then they'll bring

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Speaker 5: the musician in and introduce the musician, and the musician

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Speaker 5: then gets the opportunity to play. But if they're not,

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Speaker 5: then the guide just says, well, thank you so much

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Speaker 5: and can move on to the next room. And so

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Speaker 5: they will escort the musician all around the unit. They

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Speaker 5: learn the hospital, they're trained a hospital protocol, and so

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Speaker 5: then they you know, really just work within the same

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Speaker 5: unit each time they volunteer and bring in all the

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Speaker 5: different musicians.

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Speaker 3: And then the musicians, yeah, are just you know.

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Speaker 5: Really wonderful people who love music and love performing and

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Speaker 5: want to bring those joys to others. And so anybody

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Speaker 5: that is interested in either of those roles. There's another

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Speaker 5: section on our website all about volunteering, and it has

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Speaker 5: a link to our application that they can fill out

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Speaker 5: and let us know a little bit about them and

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Speaker 5: where they are and their interests. And for musicians, we

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Speaker 5: love for them to you know, send us some clips

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Speaker 5: of their music so we can kind of hear what

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Speaker 5: they do and then go through the process from there.

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Speaker 4: Are there any particular cities where you are in need

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Speaker 4: of volunteers right now, we have a.

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Speaker 3: Number of them.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, out on the West Coast, we could use some

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Speaker 5: help in like San Francisco, San Jose area, Las Vegas,

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Speaker 5: we have programs there that we'd love to grow some more.

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Speaker 5: We had just this year launched programs in Tampa and

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Speaker 5: Orlando and Richmond, and so we're definitely looking to grow

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Speaker 5: those some more. But really we definitely want to know

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Speaker 5: where everybody is and that they're interested in volunteering. So

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Speaker 5: no matter if we have already some really steady programs

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Speaker 5: in the city or not, we always welcome new volunteer applications.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that's great. And usually you know, we see musicians

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Speaker 4: come in with an acoustic guitar, but I've also seen

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Speaker 4: musicians with keyboards that they roll in, or a banjo.

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Speaker 4: There's all sorts of struments the musicians can play to

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Speaker 4: volunteer with MOC.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: Absolutely, We've had people play violins, and it just really

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Speaker 5: whatever your talent is, we want to know and we

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Speaker 5: want to know how we can help use it to

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Speaker 5: brighten up people's days.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. Absolutely, So what is next for Musicians on Call?

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Speaker 4: Is the program going to be expanding even further or

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Speaker 4: is there upcoming events in the new year people can

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Speaker 4: be a part of.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, next year is going to be a great year

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Speaker 5: for us. We definitely, Like I said, we have so

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Speaker 5: much interest from other facilities throughout the country, so we're

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Speaker 5: working really hard to try to expand into new markets

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Speaker 5: through a really great collaboration and partnership with HDA Healthcare.

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Speaker 5: We're looking to start programs in Ashville next year and

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Speaker 5: just want to continue building those relationships with facilities so

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Speaker 5: that we can be starting up more programs all over.

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Speaker 5: And we'll have two major fundraising events next year, one

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Speaker 5: in Nashville and one in New York, so we'll be

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Speaker 5: heavy into planning those. Nashville will be in the spring

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Speaker 5: and New York in the fall, So those will be

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Speaker 5: just really great opportunities to celebrate our programs and the

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Speaker 5: impact that we've had and give people an opportunity to

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Speaker 5: get more involved.

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Speaker 4: That's wonderful. Yeah, And everyone can head to the website

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Speaker 4: to not only look at applications for volunteering, but donate

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Speaker 4: if they want to contribute to the cause as well.

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Speaker 5: Yes, yes, we love to help have people help us

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Speaker 5: expand through financial donation. And because we don't want to

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Speaker 5: have to have this be a financial cost to the hospital,

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Speaker 5: So we want to be able to provide these programs

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Speaker 5: and pay for the onboarding of the volunteers ourselves and

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Speaker 5: not put that cost on the hospital.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and besides the volunteers, Musicians on Call has a

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Speaker 4: ton of special visits where they'll bring in celebrity guests

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Speaker 4: to hospitals and it really is just special to see

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Speaker 4: these clips where patients see their favorite artists come into

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Speaker 4: the room and play a song bedside for them. And

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Speaker 4: that's a very special program as well.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, you can imagine seeing you know, your favorite rock

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Speaker 5: star come into your room and to and play for you.

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Speaker 5: It really does just it's life changing for them and

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Speaker 5: creates some really incredible memories. And we have so many

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Speaker 5: wonderful artists partners who give their time whether they're on

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Speaker 5: tour or want to stop into one of our facilities

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Speaker 5: or come and see anybody here in Nashville.

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Speaker 3: It's just the network of folks that we get to

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Speaker 3: work with. It's really amazing.

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Speaker 4: M Yeah, it's very special. Well, Melinda, my last question

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Speaker 4: for you is a question I always ask my guest.

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Speaker 4: Since we're on taking a walk Nashville. Do you have

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Speaker 4: a favorite place that you like to take a walk

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Speaker 4: in Nashville.

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Speaker 5: Well, that's a great question. When I lived in this city,

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Speaker 5: I loved walking around by Centennial Park and then hearing

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Speaker 5: the bells chime every half hour was really always really nice.

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Speaker 5: But anymore, I love just walking around my neighborhood and

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Speaker 5: getting to just be in the fresh air and in

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Speaker 5: the fall, especially with all the leaves changing, it really

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Speaker 5: is great to really just get out there and connect

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Speaker 5: with nature and even get to wave at neighbors as

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Speaker 5: we're walking by.

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Speaker 3: Nice calming place to be.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, there's so many great parks in Nashville. And it's

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Speaker 4: also just special to take a walk in the hospitals

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Speaker 4: here in Nashville and bring joy to patients at their bedside.

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Speaker 4: So yeah, that's one of my favorite places to.

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Speaker 3: Be as well.

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Speaker 4: But I hope everyone listening in. We'll haved some musicians

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Speaker 4: on call dot org if you're interested in volunteering, donating,

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Speaker 4: or be a part of an upcoming event. Melinda, thank

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Speaker 4: you so much for being on taking a Walk Nashville today.

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Speaker 3: Well, thanks for having me. It's so much fun.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to taking a walk Nashville with singer

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Speaker 1: songwriter Sarah Harrelson. And check out our other podcasts, Music,

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Speaker 1: Save Me, Comedy, Save Me, and Taking a Walk. Available

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Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get

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Speaker 1: your podcasts.