Music reaches people in deep and powerful ways. It brings people together from any age and background, activates emotions, stimulates memories, relieves symptoms, and overall gives hospital patients something to focus on other than their pain and anxieties.

Suite Melody Care's mission is to inspire young musicians, singers, and dancers around the world to bring joy through music to the elderly and hospital patients.

What We Do

2 COUNTRIES

4 CHAPTERS

VOLUNTEER PERFORMANCES ANNUALLY

2,000+

AUDIENCE MEMBERS REACHED TO DATE

100+

Our Mission

“To inspire youth to give-back, to create positive change through music, and to bring joy to the elderly, those in difficult times, and hospital patients during their recovery.”

Suite Melody Care’s believes that music is the universal language and with so many talented youth around the world, Suite Melody Care strives to inspire these young individuals to assist in the recovery of patients through music. By showcasing the musical talents of local youth in the community, we can raise the spirits of hospital patients and the elderly, put smiles on their faces, and bring them musical performances to enjoy.

Background

Sharing Music, Sharing Moments

Founded in 2012.

The inspiration behind Suite Melody Care came when Founder & Chair Leslie Ashworth was performing for patients on the rehabilitation floor at the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. Seeing the smiles the music brought to their faces, Leslie decided to start an organization giving other young musicians the opportunity to bring joy through music to the elderly and to hospital patients.

Further developing the idea during her high school studies through two online courses (Gr. 11 Leadership and Gr. 12 Entrepreneurship), Leslie created a 40-page business plan, website, and logo for Suite Melody Care.

After being formally approved at the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, Suite Melody Care received such immense interest from students and schools that SMC began expanding into long-term care facilities, retirement homes, and hospitals.

Leslie was honoured with receiving the Lieutenant Governor's Community Service Youth Award as a result of founding and directing the SMC program and her dedication to the community. Suite Melody Care was also awarded an Ontario Government Grant to produce the Suite Melody Care CD/DVD.

SMC now has three chapters in Canada and the U.S. and has reached over 2,000 audience members to date in hospitals, retirement residences, and long-term care facilities.

The Name

The name Suite Melody Care was chosen for a number of reasons:

Melody signifies what the concept is all about – bringing soothing and joyful melodies to patients.

Melody was also the name of Leslie's loving labrador retriever dog

The term Suite in music means an ordered set of pieces that are either extracts of a large work or original movements – this program is to perform a set of piece that fit an overall theme.

However, suite is also a homonym for the word sweet which defines the melodies that will be brought into the hospital through this program – taking patients away from what hurts and providing them with something sweet and beautiful in which to listen.