JoyRx Launches New Hospital Partnership in Austin

JoyRx is excited to welcome Texas Children’s Hospital – North Austin as our newest hospital location in Austin. On June 26, 2024, we launched live, bedside music for children and families in the hospital.

JoyRx staff brought Crumbl cookies to celebrate the partnership and thank the Child Life and Family Support Services teams. Of course, there was also plenty of JoyRx swag, including egg shakers and heart-shaped stress balls, for kids and staff.

The JoyRx Music Specialists hit the ground running, training in each specific area in the hospital before spending the day providing bedside music as a team, meeting staff in various areas, and bringing joy to patients, families, and staff.

Various hospital staff expressed their excitement at the new partnership, with JoyRx staff meeting with the administration to discuss plans for an ACL hospital concert and other various events in the fall.

“We are thrilled to have you at our campus,” said Alyssa Geis, a Child Life Clinical Specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital.

“You’re here!” agreed one nurse familiar with our work in other locations. “I’ve been waiting for JoyRx to arrive!”

Since the launch, our music specialists have returned to Texas Children’s Hospital for weekly visits.

JoyRx Music Specialist Chrissy had the pleasure of meeting Levi and his family. Levi immediately asked if Chrissy knew any songs from Pixar’s Cars. Looking around Levi’s room, full of Cars memorabilia, she’d clearly found herself a big Cars fan.

She promised to learn a song by next week that they could enjoy together and, in the meantime, sang “Peaches” from Super Mario to tide him over.

The following week, JoyRx Music Specialist Monica joined Chrissy in a rendition of “Life is a Highway.”

“Levi was ECSTATIC!” said Chrissy. “He was shaking along on his egg shaker, and the whole time, he was beaming with a big smile.”

Before leaving, Chrissy and Monica loaned Levi a guitar that he could play for the day. When they came back around to retrieve the guitar for the evening, they surprised Levi with a second song from Cars: “Behind the Clouds.”

“He knew every word and sang along with us the entire time,” said Chrissy.

“Your presence lifted his spirits so much,” said his parents. They shared that this was the happiest they’d seen Levi during his hospital stay.

We are delighted and humbled to be able to serve these patients and families in Austin — and we’re looking forward to many more visits like Levi’s.

You can learn more about JoyRx Music in Austin by visiting our South Region webpage — and the powerful impact live, bedside music can make for hospitalized children.