PORTLAND, Ore. — Calling all musicians! A national nonprofit just came to Portland, and it needs volunteers to get its program off the ground. The hope — to start bringing live music to patients at VA Medical Center.
Music has always been important to Matt Popma, who sat down to speak with KGW at The 1905 jazz club in North Portland.
“It's been a big part of my family's life. I used to perform music with my oldest daughter when she was in high school,” Popma said.
The duo spread joy by performing holiday music on KGW in 2017. But now, Popma wants to spread joy in a different way, through working with a nonprofit called Musicians On Call.
“I started watching the videos of them [volunteers] performing bedside performances,” said Popma. “I got really excited.”
Popma is helping to financially back the program in Portland to get it off the ground. He first reached out to the nonprofit a few years before COVID-19 hit, asking if there was an opportunity to play music for hospital patients in Portland. At the time, there wasn’t. Now, years later, the program is finally here.
“We're set to bring musicians into the hospital tomorrow,” said Dr. Paula Macfie.
But they need volunteers, both guides who usher musicians from room to room as well as musicians.
“Right now we're looking for volunteers to do about an hour a month and commit to that,” Macfie said.
"We're ready to go. So, we're just waiting for musicians to sign up,” Macfie said.
She is signed up as the first volunteer guide in the program. She knows well, the power of music. Macfie suffered from a brain injury when she was young and a multiple sclerosis diagnosis as an adult which have been difficult.
“Music is the one thing that would always lift me up,” said Macfie.
She and Popma hope the live music played for patients at Portland’s VA Medical Center lifts spirits.
“This isn't a music therapy program. It’s music upliftment for the soul, the mind and the body,” Macfie said.
“It's their [Music On Call’s] motto: music heals. And that's what we're trying to do is help people in that healing process,” said Popma.
Musicians On Call has been around for 25 years and has served more than a million people in the United States.
People interested in volunteering can go to www.musiciansoncall.org, then select the "Volunteers and Supporters" drop down tab.