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SALT LAKE CITY -- A Utah nurse is bringing hope and healing to his patients through the gift of song.
It may not be Carnegie Hall, but on any given afternoon, the rich, reaching tenor voice of Luiz Meneghin fills the halls of Aspen Ridge Rehab Center.
I think music has a healing factor. When you are sad and depressed and you listen to music that touches your heart, you feel better.
–Luiz Meneghin
"This got started from him just wanting to sing happy birthday to one of his patients, and the patient just said 'You are so good. We need to do more of this,'" explains Aspen Ridge administrator Kenny Frasure.
"When I first came, I heard this voice down the hall, and I thought, 'Oh my land!! Who is that?!'" patient Beverly Wagstaff recalls.
Luiz Meneghin came to the United States from Brazil in 1992 to study nursing at Brigham Young University. Now a registered nurse, he works two jobs, often clocking an 80-hour workweek; but his real dream is to sing.
"I started listening to Pavarotti, Bocelli; I fell in love with those songs. And I buy the CD's and sing along and learn the lyrics, and practicing," Meneghin says. "I start singing for the patients and people start asking, ‘Can you sing more? Can you sing more?'"
A self-taught singer, Meneghin credits his love for music to his dad, who is a composer. It's his hope his father will hear him sing professionally before he dies.
"I know that he would enjoy a lot if, one day, he can, you know, have a recital; a concert with an orchestra in a nice place would be really nice," Meneghin says.
But for now, his practice audience is his group of patients. He sings in the hallway, or by request, in individual patient rooms, making music part of the medication.
"I think music has a healing factor. When you are sad and depressed and you listen to music that touches your heart, you feel better," Meneghin says.
"The first time I heard him, I couldn't believe it," says Diane Limberg, who is recovering from knee surgery. "I thought you turned on the stereo. I didn't know what it was."
"It makes it a lot happier. You don't get beautiful operatic music like this very often," Wagstaff says.
"That is really special to me to know that I am somehow touching people with music like that," Meneghin says.
E-mail: bwalker@ksl.com
