For communities across the country, including the Penn Medicine community, Martin Luther King Jr. Day has become a day of service and action, as well as a time to reflect on Dr. King’s vision of justice and equality. Shortly after his assassination fifty-one years ago, PPMC began celebrating his life and legacy each year on January 15 — Dr. King’s birthday — and for the last decade, staff have come together to perform a commemorative musical presentation at different locations across the hospital.
This year’s traveling performance was led by Emmanuella Williams, MSN, RN, ATCN, a clinical nurse in the NeuroIntensive and Progressive Care Unit and chair of the Cultural Competence Committee (CCC), and John Ehman, chaplain and manager for Pastoral Care, and also featured the musical stylings of music therapist Bryan Muller and CCC members. The group made stops at nursing stations, patient care units, and waiting areas and shared their message and song with more than 250 patients, visitors, and staff.
As the group sang the Civil Rights anthem “We Shall Overcome” and gospel favorites “If I Can Help Somebody” and “This Little Light of Mine,” Ehman discussed Dr. King’s dream for a better world and pointed to the ways the audience was already serving others, such as staff helping patients overcome the obstacles of illness and injury, family members caring for loved ones and waiting for them to finish treatment, and patients sharing their light with the world, even on their toughest days.
“I believe it’s vital to celebrate Dr. King’s life and legacy for the obvious importance of the values he championed, but it’s also part of PPMC’s commitment to the diverse community that we serve,” Ehman said. “The hospital was built on the promise to ‘provide for the needs of the sick and disabled, regardless of race, color, or creed,’ and today, our employees continue to reflect that commitment and Dr. King’s values by promoting the well-being of the community both through their work and through public service.”