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Proceeds from NHPCO’s Hospice Music Project new recording The World Around the Bed: Songs of hope and healing will support PPE supplies for hospice providers.
(Alexandria, Va) – The birth of the Hospice Music project began in November 2018 as part of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s (NHPCO) interdisciplinary team conference hosted in New Orleans. At a conference session led by hospice physician and musician John Mulder and GRAMMY award winning songwriter Tricia Walker, hospice professionals shared reflections of their work. They put words to the many emotions experienced in caring for people often near the end of life. Walker and Mulder shaped those words and wrote the music to create the first recorded song, Joy in a Teardrop. The Hospice Music Project was born.
NHPCO, along with John Mulder and Tricia Walker are proud to release the new recording, The World Around the Bed: Songs of hope and healing. Featuring 11 original songs created from the experience of hospice heroes from across the country, The World Around the Bed… reflects the joys, sorrows, difficult and challenging times, and even the lighthearted and humorous moments that are a part of life’s journey.
“These gifted and compassionate hospice professionals lovingly shared their thoughts, ideas, and stories with us and then allowed us to shape their ideas into the special songs that have been recorded for this unique project,” said co-creator Ms. Walker. “These songs really do express the hope and healing that hospice professionals provide each and every day.”
“We feel that this will be one more effective way of communicating the sacredness of our work and establishing a testament of our wonderful legacy,” added co-creator Dr. Mulder.
“During the challenging times our country, indeed the world, is facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, songs that emphasize love, compassion, and hope are needed now more than ever,” said NHPCO President and CEO Edo Banach. “Now, the proceeds from the sale of The World Around the Bed… will help bring much needed personal protective equipment (PPE) to providers in the hospice community, many of whom are struggling with lack of supplies, putting their own safety at risk.”
The album may be purchased through the NHPCO Marketplace online or by calling NHPCO at 800-646-6460. The World Around the Bed: Songs of hope and healing is also available on Amazon Music or iTunes.
For those interested in supporting the supply of PPE for hospice professionals, direct donations may be made to NHPCO’s affiliate the National Hospice Foundation (please designate the Workforce Emergency Support Fund on the online donation form). So far, NHF’s Workforce Emergency Support Fund has collected more than $55,000 that is being distributed to hospices in need of protective equipment.
NHPCO has created a page of information on COVID-19 for professionals at nhpco.org/coronavirus and information for the public at caringinfo.org/coronavirus. Additional information on hospice, palliative care, and advance care planning is also available from caringinfo.org.
Thoughts from some of the artists that contributed to The World Around the Bed…
As significant and natural and powerful as our first breath, is our last. Bringing acceptance and celebration of death into the mainstream has been a burning desire since the loss of my father at age 5. Being a contributor to “The World Around the Bed” has made that desire come true.
—Bruce Michael Miller
It’s not easy to express the blessings you carry in your heart when you volunteer to work with hospice patients and of course, the wonderful hospice workers. I wrote “INTO THE LIGHT” as a tribute to these wonderful, selfless, compassionate angels who do so much for those in the most vulnerable moment of their lives.
—Jackie Carlyle
I don’t have the words to express how much it means to me to be part of this project. It brings together two things I treasure so much – my service to our patients and families during my hospice years and my love of writing music. I am humbled to be part of this journey.
—Ali Shumate
I am so grateful for the opportunity to share this album in honor of all the hospice workers, patients and their families!
—Tom Dalton
When I wrote “Suffer No More” with my songwriting student Chuck McDowell, a few things were yet to be seen. One was that Chuck would emerge as a great writer and artist within just a few years. Another was that he himself would suffer and succumb to cancer. Another unforeseen circumstance was that my love, Merrill Farnsworth, would pass away after a quick but painful battle with cancer nearly a year before Chuck passed. Yet, before these losses became real to Chuck and me, we were granted the empathy to write a song which we may as well have written to ourselves.
—Phil Madeira
About NHPCO As the leading organization representing integrated, person-centered healthcare, NHPCO gives ongoing inspiration, practical guidance, and legislative representation to hospice and palliative care providers so they can enrich experiences for patients and ease caregiving responsibilities and emotional stress for families.
About NHF National Hospice Foundation, the fundraising affiliate of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, is dedicated to creating resources for individuals and their families facing serious and life-limiting illness, raising awareness and increasing access to hospice and palliative care, and providing ongoing professional education and skills development to hospice and palliative care professionals.
