Healing through expression — new music therapy room opens at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital

Sponsored by the Panda Cares Center of Hope -- the room was made possible in part by the popular restaurant chain Panda Express.

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Healing through expression — that’s the goal of a brand new music therapy room at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital of the Midlands.

“Yea it makes me feel awesome,” says nine-year-old Jackson, a patient and now user of the new space.

Sponsored by the Panda Cares Center of Hope — the room was made possible in part by the popular restaurant chain Panda Express.

The organization reports raising millions of dollars alongside the Children’s Miracle Network to help hospitals in local communities.

“The Center of Hope is a big thing for us at Panda Express. Every customer that comes in the door — we ask if they would like to donate to the children’s hospital. It’s a very big impactful thing that we make sure we value everyday,” says Panda Express’s Hannah Holbrook.

Music therapists with Prisma say the room is designed to reduce a patient’s anxiety, and help them cope with an unfamiliar hospital setting.

“There’s so much science and psychology and therapy that goes behind what our music therapists are able to do everyday, and so to watch them grow our program, to watch this room come to fruition when we’ve been trying for 20 plus years to get it, it’s just such an amazing day. It’s such a huge win for our children’s hospital. It’s a huge win for music therapy and a huge win for our team in general,” says Christy Fink, the manager of Childlife and Special Programs at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital.

It’s all about expression, says Fink, also allowing kids and teenagers to clear their minds through different instruments, and even writing their own lyrics — in turn promoting both physical and emotional healing.

Holbrook says providing kids with joy is personal for her. She says she was found on the streets of Korea at 2-years-old, and later adopted.

“Just to make them happy and smile, when I look at kids and they smile, it really touches me in my heart. I don’t know, it just brings me back to my kind of place where I came from, so that’s one thing I’m very grateful and thankful to share,” says Holbrook.

Panda Cares recently debuted ten other “Centers of Hope” — including in California, Texas, and Hawaii.

Jackson says he’s very thankful for the new music therapy room, adding, “So thank you guys so much. Have a great day, and I’ll see you guys at my next video. Bye bye.”