Therapeutic Programs

At Heart Hospital of New Mexico @ Lovelace Medical Center, we encourage a variety of therapies that have shown significant benefits to patients, including the Healing Harp Program and Pet Therapy.

The Healing Harp

For more than a decade, we have brought live harp music to the bedside of patients. The project was designed to reduce patient and family anxiety before and after surgery. Quiet harp music played at 60-70 beats per minute is sometimes accompanied by Native American flute. The positive responses pouring in from patients, as well as physicians and staff, supported continuing the program as a regular part of patient care. At the Heart Hospital of New Mexico @ Lovelace Medical Center, the harp music can be heard in the day surgery area, in waiting rooms and in patient rooms three days a week.

The basis for the "Healing Harp Program" is supported by numerous studies pulled from Medline on the effects of music on various parameters of anxiety and stress. The real measure of the value of the harp program however is expressed in the unsolicited, spontaneous responses from patients and families. One family member wrote, "Upon entering the Heart Hospital, such a feeling of peace comes over you and you realize that healthcare has been raised to a new dimension. Knowing that medicine has become dominated by drugs an surgery, the Heart Hospital recognizes the spiritual needs of our being and exemplifies this concern in many ways, but most emphatically with the Healing Harp which truly heals!" And a patient wrote, "Although you were able to lower my heart rate, you did much more. Through your music, I was able to close my eyes and relax enough to get my approaching panic under control. With the boost you gave me, I was able to hang on until a pacemaker was installed."

Pet Therapy

Like Lovelace Rehabilitation Hospital, the Heart Hospital of New Mexico @ Lovelace Medical Center includes a pet therapy program in our list of patient services. Our staff and patients know that a little fur goes a long way toward health and happiness. Documented visits from therapy dogs have shown to provide "breakthrough" advances for some patients who were comatose, depressed, or incoherent. For those who miss their own pets, a visit from a furry friend may help speed recovery.

The program, which works with licensed pet therapy volunteers and their dogs, provides patients and their families with a little cheer and support during their hospital stay. The visits allow the patient to pet or hold the dog. All the dogs are specially trained, vaccinated, and groomed to adhere to stringent regulations. The volunteers are also trained in dog handling, hospital safety and patient privacy.

Appointments and Information