Harpist brings calm to hospital patients

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (Aging Untold) — A harpist is offering quiet comfort to patients and families at McLeod Seacoast Hospital, playing every Thursday, the hospital’s busiest day for same-day surgery. Peg Mann is part of the hospital’s volunteer and student services program. She has played the harp there for more than a year. A new sound for the waiting room Volunteer manager Peggy Skudera, who hired Mann as the harpist, said she was initially unsure about the idea. “I wasn’t sure a harp was the best place to be in a hospital because my thought was, next stop is heaven,” Skudera said. Skudera said watching Mann play shows her connection to the instrument. “When you see her play it, you can see she is so in tune and so married to that harp,” Skudera said. “It’s absolutely amazing that she doesn’t know what’s going on around her. She doesn’t know all the people are listening. All the people that are looking at her.” Playing from the background Mann said she prefers not to be the center of