SALINE COUNTY, Ark. — A nurse at Saline County Memorial Hospital decided he wanted to see a little bit of a change in the atmosphere of his workplace on Friday.
"Today was a great day," registered nurse Michael Stramiello said, referring to a day that was filled with music.
While everyone's tensions are high due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Stramiello decided to try to ease some of it with his guitar and voice.
"I was able to just play a little music for them and talk with them," Stramiello said. "Just to have a little peace of mind on everything and put our medical stuff aside for a moment and just enjoy living in music."
Stramiello said visitors are no longer allowed inside the hospital, which adds to the sense of isolation that so many people across the nation are feeling.
"I was able to go into a patient's room that wanted to hear some good Christian music that they're used to hearing in church," he said. "And I was able to play some tunes for them -- just some simple things, nothing very long -- but the atmosphere really changed for that patient."
Seeing how much the patient enjoyed the music added to Stramiello's drive to do something like this more often.
"Getting to be a part of that with that patient and bring anything that can give them a positive outcome here, it means a lot to me," he said. "It's what we want to do at the end of the day."