In the year 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, one could sense the isolation upon walking into Children’s Hospital. There was loneliness hanging in the air. Children were limited to the company of their parents and the parade of doctors making their hospital room feel like a revolving door. Witnessing this provided a chance to reflect on what a full healing journey entails: mind, body, and spirit. Hospitals and western medicine have become incredibly skilled at physical healing, but lack sufficient attention when it comes to attending to the psychological and spiritual aspects of healing. As a musician who believes in the power of music to heal, an idea began to take shape. Is there a way to help children who are battling serious illness or facing long hospitalizations, saturated with the exhausting, tech-heavy, and invasive hospital routine? What could bring joy to children who are fighting for their health? For us, the answer was music.

Anodyne came to the English language from the Latin word anodynos, meaning without pain. In this day and age, the word Anodyne can be used to describe something that either relieves pain or doesn’t cause struggle at all. For this organization, Anodyne is a complementary remedy to Western Medicine approaches: a program designed to combine music and the healing process, directed at children struggling with long-term health issues in the hospital. A hospital is a place that can feel soulless and detached, but music opens those spaces. It's an opportunity for young musicians (closer in age to patients) to give back to the community by connecting with other youth and kids, providing companionship, and demonstrating the scientific and spiritual possibility of healing through music.