SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--To help celebrate Valentine’s Day and American Heart Month, Dignity Health, one of the largest health systems in the nation, is sharing the power of humankindness with the launch of a one-of-a-kind living symphony created from human heartbeats. The interactive Heartbeat Symphony experience allows people to contribute their heartbeat to this unique musical composition, which symbolizes the connections that link humanity together thanks to our hearts.
The Heartbeat Symphony web app uses cutting-edge technology developed by MIT that detects pulse movement in a person’s skin through a webcam or phone camera. The app then assigns a unique instrument to each person’s heartbeat and unites the instruments together in the original symphony track. The experience not only combines heartbeats to create a beautiful melody, but also allows people to share their own heartbeat music with someone they love – making it a creative, free digital Valentine’s Day gift that also helps remind loved ones to take care of their most important instrument – their heart.
Inspired by its 65,000 physicians and employees, Dignity Health created the Heartbeat Symphony as an illustration of our collective bond. The Heartbeat Symphony is an original piece of music created from more than 200 Dignity Health employees’ heartbeats, and brought to life by professional composer Miles Kennedy and a 24-piece orchestra. Now Dignity Health is inviting others to participate and contribute the sound of their own heartbeat to complete the symphony and be part of an effort to create the world’s longest song derived from heartbeats.
“With the Heartbeat Symphony, we are harnessing the power of the pulse every human being shares. By combining our heartbeats into music, we can marvel at the new harmonies we are bound to discover as the symphony grows,” said Bernita McTernan, executive vice president of sponsorship, mission integration, and philanthropy at Dignity Health. “We hope that everyone in our community will take a moment to share their heartbeat so we can watch how the music and the healing energy grows. And we look forward to sharing this beautiful song with our employees and patients as they were the inspiration behind the music.”
Every day, Dignity Health employees experience how kindness can be a powerful source of healing and that embracing the shared inclination toward compassion can lead to stronger human connections. Through the Heartbeat Symphony, Dignity Health hopes to inspire others to join in its mission to create, discover and celebrate humankindness. To join in the Heartbeat Symphony and share the music of your heart with the ones you care for, visit heartbeatsymphony.org.
Disclaimer: The Heartbeat Symphony website and supporting technology is for entertainment purposes only. It is not a medical device. It cannot and should not be relied upon or viewed as medical information about you.
About Dignity Health
Dignity Health, one of the nation’s largest health care systems, is a 20-state network of nearly 9,000 physicians, 56,000 employees, and more than 400 care centers, including hospitals, urgent and occupational care, imaging centers, home health, and primary care clinics. Headquartered in San Francisco, Dignity Health is dedicated to providing compassionate, high-quality and affordable patient-centered care with special attention to the poor and underserved. In FY14, Dignity Health provided nearly $2 billion in charitable care and services. For more information, please visit our website at www.dignityhealth.org. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
