ROCKWOOL Group is proud to announce, together with the Hard Rock Heals Foundation, a special addition to the children’s hospital at La Paz University Hospital in Madrid—a music space, complete with instruments, recording and rehearsal area and a small stage where young patients can play music and recover.
The Hard Rock Café Music Room, which officially opens today, is funded by Hard Rock Heals—the organization that oversees the philanthropic efforts of Hard Rock International—together with partners that include ROCKWOOL Group, which has donated Rockfon acoustic ceiling tiles to give the room an authentic music studio function and appearance.
“The ROCKWOOL Group is very proud to help Hard Rock Heals with the development of this music space for the children receiving care at La Paz,” says Mirella Vitale, Senior Vice President, ROCKWOOL Group.
“We always look for opportunities to help the communities where we operate and this is an ideal project. Rockfon’s products are used widely in healthcare facilities for their sound absorption, hygienic and light reflecting qualities, so the music room is a perfect fit. I am sure it will bring joy to the children and improve their hospital stay while adding real value to one of the city’s most important child healthcare facilities.”
La Paz is the largest hospital in Madrid, with more than 1,300 beds and 7,000 employees working in four hospitals. The music room adds a dedicated room to support the hospital’s Children’s Music Therapy Program, which began in 2003 and treats hundreds of patients per year with music therapy.
“This is the first music room with these characteristics that is installed in a hospital in Spain, designed by and for the patients of the Children's Hospital,” says Dr. Javier Cobas, deputy managing director of the La Paz University Hospital. “Among other activities, the room will be used to complement the work carried out by music therapists with the children admitted.”
Research has shown that music therapy in caregiving facilities has a broad range of benefits to the physical, psychological and emotional states of patients, including among other things, reducing heart rate and improving oxygen saturation, reducing preoperative anxiety, improving motor control and helping improve the health of premature babies.
The Music Room will help La Paz’ continue its research into the therapeutic benefits of music and improve the hospital environment, promoting more varied emotional interaction between children, their families and staff.
Inside the room, which is designed and decorated to be the scene of a concert—complete with wallpaper depicting screaming fans—there are several guitars, a keyboard, drums, donated by Unión Musical, the leading chain of musical instrument stores in Spain, as well as amplifiers from Marshall and Native.
About Hard Rock Heals Foundation
The Hard Rock Heals Foundation provides grants and assistance to individuals whose goal is to heal through the power of music. Partnerships with like-minded, music-centric organizations allows Hard Rock Heals Foundation the opportunity to improve lives and promote wellness. In 2016 the foundation gifted 1.3 million dollars USD to charitable causes around the world, including more than 30 grants to community driven music programs in Hard Rock markets.
