Posted 06 April 2023 - 14:48
Posted 06 April 2023 - 14:48
News
Nurse stars in inspirational choir of worldwide healthcare staff
Choir made up of health staff worldwide, formed to raise spirits amid COVID, meets for first time with performance in Geneva to mark WHO anniversary
Choir made up of health staff worldwide, formed to raise spirits amid COVID, meets for first time with performance in Geneva to mark WHO anniversary
A singing nurse hit the right note when he was invited to Switzerland to open a World Health Organization (WHO) conference in a choir made up of healthcare workers from around the world.
Deputy charge nurse Mark Harding joined other members of the unique international choir to sing at the WHO’s 75th anniversary conference in Geneva on 3 April.
Choir made up of nurses, midwives, doctors, music therapists and radiographers performed Bridge Over Troubled Water
Made up of nurses, midwives, doctors, music therapists and radiographers from the UK, Brazil, Zambia, Australia, South Sudan and Norway, the Global Scrubs Choir performed the Simon and Garfunkel song Bridge Over Troubled Water for an audience that included health leaders, lords and royalty.
Among the audience were Princess Muna of Jordan and Lord Nigel Crisp, former chief executive of NHS England.
The choir, launched in Melbourne, Australia, during the COVID pandemic, brought together front-line healthcare workers from all over the world to lift people’s spirits through music in tough times, and their videos have gained hundreds of thousands of views.
Following the choir’s success, members were invited to Geneva to sing at the WHO conference, with most meeting other members face-to-face for the first time. Their accompanying video has already gathered 2,500 views on YouTube.
Several choir memebrs joined a panel discussion about their experience working through the pandemic
‘It has just been incredible, we have been treated like VIPs,’ Mr Harding, who works at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, told Nursing Standard.
‘I was so nervous on Sunday night I could barely sleep. But it was amazing. We sang while the video played behind us. Afterwards we even got a standing ovation.
‘Princess Muna came and shook all our hands and Lord Crisp came up to shake my hand and even invited us to have a drink with him at the House of Lords – it has like being in another world.’
Before the performance Mr Harding and three other front-line staff were invited to talk on a panel about their experience working through the COVID-19 pandemic, with the nurse sharing his ‘breaking moment’ when a close friend and colleague, named Paulo, was brought into the ICU as a patient.
Mr Harding said: ‘He was lucky that he was one of the ones that survived, when so many staff sadly lost their lives.
‘What was amazing was that although we were from all different places across the world, our stories had the same themes.
‘It was a privilege to be given that platform to tell the biggest health leaders about my personal experience on the front line. Afterwards, people came up to me and said they’d been moved to tears. But I spoke to Paulo and we both agreed that it’s a story that needed to be told.’
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