A musician needs full lungs to play the harmonica — that makes the pocket-size instrument just what the doctor ordered for respiratory therapy patients at Baton Rouge General Pulmonary Rehabilitation Center.
Jaqueline McCarthy, a musical therapist at Baton Rouge General, teaches the weekly classes, split up into 15 minute one-on-one sessions.
McCarthy, a former opera singer, also leads a special class once a month for patients wanting to learn the harmonica as respiratory therapy treatment, which helps patients with types of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
In the class, patients learned the Louisiana classic, “You are My Sunshine.”…