{"id":10649,"date":"2023-05-15T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=10649"},"modified":"2023-05-16T06:49:40","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T06:49:40","slug":"va-nurses-share-their-stories-through-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=10649","title":{"rendered":"VA nurses share their stories through songs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This National Nurses Month, Freedom Sings USA will debut songs written by VA Veteran nurses who told their stories through the creative songwriting process, thanks to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freedomsingsusa.org\/\">Freedom Sings USA<\/a>, a nonprofit based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. <\/p>\n<p>The organization\u2019s mission is to help Veterans, military personnel and their families tell their stories through song.\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><em>\u201cI walk the halls<\/em><br \/><em>In scrubs not fatigues<\/em><br \/><em>Reaching out,<\/em><br \/><em>To people just like me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><cite>Loretta Gorucki, \u201cInvisible Scars\u201d<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In Loretta Gorecki\u2019s powerful song, she writes that when her uniform changed from military fatigues to scrubs, her mission did not. She still proudly serves her fellow Veterans as a VA nurse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs VA nurses, we have a unique journey to help those who have borne the battle. Veteran nurses understand and relate to the invisible scars. All VA nurses are here to help heal visible and invisible wounds,\u201d said Gorecki, who served in the Marine Corps and as a nurse manager at Chicago\u2019s Hines VA.<\/p>\n<p>This Nurses Month, Freedom Sings USA will debut 11 songs written by VA Veteran nurses. They are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>James Adams \u201cBlessed By My Career\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Mariva Balfour-Coleman \u201cA Nurses Prayer\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Loretta Gorecki \u201cInvisible Scars\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Nikki Kemp \u201cSoldier On\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Susan Pelz \u201cAngels of Mercy\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Roland Sauerland \u201cThe Forgotten\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Hansel Moore \u201cEverlast\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Christine Brooks \u201cWelcome Home\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Kristine Sorto \u201c People Don\u2019t Know\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Stephanie Leach \u201cYes You Can\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Ramona Ross \u201cJust a Girl\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">No experience necessary<\/h2>\n<p>Marvia Balfour-Coleman, who served in the Army National Guard and is a registered nurse at Memphis VA, always sang in church and school choir when she was growing up. As a child, Nikki Kemp rapped with his brother in an Egyptian commercial selling neckties.<\/p>\n<p>The other nurse Veterans had little or no musical experience except for James Adams. The former Army Specialist and licensed vocational nurse is a musician who plays the guitar, drums, sings and writes songs.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of background, all any Veteran needs to participate in Freedom Sings USA is a desire to tell their stories.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u201cThey can feel they are not forgotten.\u201d<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><em>\u201cI see you,<\/em><br \/><em>I see your pain,<\/em><br \/><em>I served too.<\/em><br \/><em>I\u2019m one of you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><cite><em>Roland Sauerland, \u201cThe Forgotten\u201d<\/em><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Veteran songwriters\u2019 understanding of their patients is evident throughout their songs. Sauerland, an Air Force Veteran and psychiatric nurse at South Texas VA in San Antonio, cares for Veterans who have moved away from society to rural areas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy building trust and checking in on them, they can feel they are not forgotten,\u201d Sauerland said, as the inspiration for his song.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Nurses Prayer<\/h2>\n<p>The experience of caring for Veterans during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic inspired pieces by Balfour-Cleman and Susan Pelz. Balfour-Cleman\u2019s emotional journey with COVID patients in a state Veterans home led to these lyrics in A Nurses Prayer:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><em>\u201cI\u2019ll be the one to hold their hand,<\/em><br \/><em>I\u2019ll be the one who listens when all they need\u2019s a friend,<\/em><br \/><em>And when you send your angels to call them home,<\/em><br \/><em>I\u2019ll be there.<\/em><br \/><em>They\u2019ll never die alone.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cNurses are tough physically and emotionally, as tough as many Veterans. However, no one can experience the level of stress for the period of time we did without it breaking us down,\u201d said Susan Pelz, an Air Force National Guard Veteran and nurse manager at Central Arkansas VA in Little Rock. In her song Angel of Mercy, she wrote:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><em>\u201cEvery day your heart is broken<\/em><br \/><em>Every night pick up the pieces<\/em><br \/><em>Then come morning we do it all again.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u201cYou\u2019re gonna be all right.\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>Kemp wanted Veterans to know that he is with them through their fight to regain their life and health. In Soldier On, he wrote:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><em>\u201cI\u2019ll do everything I can<\/em><br \/><em>Together we can do this,<\/em><br \/><em>You still have purpose<\/em><br \/><em>We can give you back your life<\/em><br \/><em>You\u2019re gonna be all right<\/em><br \/><em>Be brave<\/em><br \/><em>Be strong<\/em><br \/><em>Soldier on.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Making the Music<\/h2>\n<p>During late March, a songwriting retreat was held near Nashville. During this retreat, VA nurses collaborated on the creation six original songs, sharing their most personal stories of triumph and loss. Making the Music\u00a0is a compelling video that shares the behind the scenes view of how these songs were created, provides personal insights from both the nurse and songwriter perspective. It\u2019s where you\u2019ll hear VA nurses share their thoughts on the healing power of music.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image hd-bcve-wrapper is--youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\" data-id=\"SSGKBb_VsLc\">\n<div class=\"play-button\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"video-shortcode\">\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Freedom Sings USA - VA Nurse Songs (Song Writing Retreat)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SSGKBb_VsLc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>This month is the debut of the nurse Veterans\u2019 songs on an album titled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freedomsingsusa.org\/music\/the-way-back\">The Way Back: Songs of Healing<\/a>. \u00a0Show your support for VA nurses and other Veterans and listen to their songs at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freedomsingsusa.org\/\">Freedom Sings USA<\/a>. If you are a Veteran who wants to learn more about Freedom Sings, please <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freedomsingsusa.org\/contact\">Contact \u2013 Freedom Sings USA<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This National Nurses Month, Freedom Sings USA will debut songs written by VA Veteran nurses who told their stories through the creative songwriting process, thanks to Freedom Sings USA, a nonprofit based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The organization\u2019s mission is to help Veterans, military personnel and their families tell their stories through song.\u00a0 \u201cI walk the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":10651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,190],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-nurses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10649"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10652,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10649\/revisions\/10652"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}