May 2005 | Whole Health
Uncommon Healer
Practitioner Profile
by Nancy Ging
Who: Margaret Pasquesi and Tony Pederson, Music Thanatologists, heartfully committed, well-trained and formally certified in assisting hospice patients through harp music.
Quick Take: Pasquesi and Pederson are Music Thanatologists who provide deep peace and lessen pain. Their service is offered by the Palliative CareCenter & Hospice of the North Shore (pcchns), 2821 Central St., Evanston, Ill., a cutting-edge organization that provides whole-person care. Pasquesi and Pederson are two of only 70 Music Thanatologists in the world. At the request of a doctor, chaplain, social worker, family member or the patient, they provide live music at the bedside, playing prescriptive music that responds to and alleviates a patient’s physical and psychological symptoms and surrounds them (and their family) with beauty at life’s end.
Old vs. New: Dying patients once were avoided, their deepest needs neglected. In recent years dying has begun to be viewed as a rite of passage, a transition that deserves to be assisted with great care. “We’re creating sacred space for death,” said Pasquesi.
Knowing the Difference: “Music Thanatology is not synonymous with music therapy: Music therapists are broadly trained whereas Music Thanatologists are very specifically trained for end-of-life care. “Music Thantatology is more connected to the physiological processes,” said Pederson. “It’s really a medical modality.”
Biggest Myth: Pasquesi and Pederson said it is a myth that people who are unconscious cannot hear music. “The patients can feel the music even if they are unconscious,” said Pederson. Dying patients respond with physiological signs to the melodies and harmonies of the harp music and well-timed pauses for processes that are occurring at the time of death.
Case Study: A woman of 78 years was suffering from multi-system failure and dementia. The hospice doctor said she had two weeks to live. She had stopped eating, drinking and speaking and barely moved. Pederson and Pasquesi arrived at her bedside for a vigil and said, “We are going to play you some music, if that’s all right, but first, I want to take your pulse and your temperature.” They then played for 30 minutes, with periods of silence in the process. The patient’s family was visibly moved as she stared intently at the harps. When the music stopped, the family was amazed when the woman weakly brought her hands together in an effort to applaud and said, “I love concerts.”
Personal File: Margaret Pasquesi and Tony Pederson have been working as a team for almost three years and have been at pcchns since June, 2003. They both received Music Thanatology certification from the Chalice of Repose Project School of Music Thanatology at St. Patrick’s Hospital in Missoula, Mont., in 2002.
Pasquesi received her B.A. in Fine Arts from Chicago’s Columbia College in 1994 and her M.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from Columbia in 1999.
Pederson majored in psychology at the University of North Dakota. In 1993 he moved to Missoula to work as a nursing assistant in the Alzheimer’s wing of a health care center. There he discovered his calling when harpists from the Chalice of Repose Project held a vigil at a dying patient’s bedside.
They can be reached at 847-467-7423 or www.carecenter.org.
Nancy Ging, A.C.S.W., L.C.S.W., is a Chicago-area holistic psychotherapist, consultant and author. Visit her website at www.nancyging.net.
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