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When Carol Bumford was in palliative care at St. Paul’s Hospital, nearing the end of her battle with cancer, her daughter Melody Arnett sat vigil.

Like many families who have spent time in that unit, Arnett heard an angelic voice floating in from the hallway. It was the voice of music therapist Ruth Eliason, who would sometimes wander the hallways, strumming her guitar and singing.

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“If we needed a break, we got to step out of the room and have a little moment,” says Arnett. “I would take my daughters, who are musical, and we would come and watch Ruth and be kind of taken away for 10 or 15 minutes, just listening to her beautiful voice.”

Susan Goodwin, who also spent time on the ward when her father Malcolm McNiven was in palliative care, had the same experience.

“You’ve got loved ones dying and you’ve got families sitting around, you know, doing the vigil, focusing and fixating on their breathing thing,” says Goodwin. “And then along comes Ruth and she’s got the voice of an angel. You know, sometimes it’s not even that she has to come into the room. Sometimes she just sits in the hallway and she plays and the music takes the edge off of all the stuff going on in the room.”