Keeping Chinatown’s Homebound Elderly Connected—and Their Spirits Uplifted—During COVID-19
For Chinatown’s vulnerable elderly residents who have been homebound during the COVID-19 pandemic, beautiful music of Eastern and Western cultures—available in private sessions over Zoom—is bringing much-needed relief from isolation and anxiety
In the darkness of this global pandemic, music reminds us of our common humanity, creating connections to pleasant memories and hope for a brighter time, explains Carrie Ng, manager of VNSNY’s Asian Community Centers. “Music is a universal language,” she says. “It has a healing power that can help us escape from the current health crisis.”
These VNSNY centers include the Chinatown Community Center (CCC) on Mott Street in Manhattan, which offers its members biweekly virtual concerts with musicians in partnership with Si-Yo Music Society Foundation, Inc*. “As they listen, you can see from the expression on members’ faces that old memories are coming back, and they’re able to relax for a few minutes,” says Carrie.
VNSNY’s Chinatown Community Center has temporarily closed its physical location due to COVID-19, but through telephone outreach (the CCC continues to answer its phones 7 days a week from 9-to-5) and virtual programming, our workers are keeping the center’s members connected to care, community and culture during these challenging times.
Providing homebound elderly patients solace through music is one stirring example of this outreach. Accessible by phone and over Zoom through the Si-Yo’s Musical Phone Pal™ program, each virtual concert features performances by accomplished musicians, as well as an opportunity for members to speak one-on-one with the musicians. As one Chinatown Community Center member noted, “Music has a way of making us feel more connected to others.”
* The Si-Yo Music Society Foundation is a nonprofit educational and cultural institution dedicated to bringing classical music to a global community.
To read more VNSNY Heroes of 2020 stories, please click here.
