Volunteer Shares Healing Notes

Many Thursday afternoons, visitors to the San Carlos clinic of Sutter’s Palo Alto Medical Foundation hear the soothing sounds of guitarist Vance Daddi. As patients stop to listen, many smile and thank Vance. But recently, something truly astonished him.

“I was playing a popular love song and a woman sat next to me, put her head on my shoulder and whispered thank you.” Vance saw that she had a tear in her eye as she walked away.

Nurses working in the OR nearby will come out to dance. Children drag their parents to listen more closely, prompting Vance to learn more children’s songs over the years. And one man thanked him by saying, “When the doors to the clinic opened and I heard you singing and playing your guitar, the nervousness and anxiety I usually feel disappeared.”

This volunteer ritual started in 2022, after Vance began seeing Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group (PAFMG) orthopedic hand specialist, Jaret Butler, M.D., because a tendon near his knuckle was sliding out of place. When Dr. Butler asked what causes the most pain, Vance pulled out a guitar pick and said he couldn’t use the pick anymore. They continued a conversation about his guitar playing and Vance played him a recording on his iPad of a song he had recently composed.

“We splinted the finger and Vance was delighted that he didn’t need surgery,” recalls Dr. Butler. “After hearing his playing, I arranged to have him play as a volunteer musician.” Since the volunteering began, Dr. Butler says that Vance insists he gets much more out of playing at PAMF than he gives.

Self-Taught Guitar Player Channels Feelings Through Writing and Playing

Vance was a singer in a band when he was young. He stopped after getting married and starting a career but eventually taught himself to play the guitar as a hobby. In fact, he’s had to relearn to play more than once. A devastating accident while he was consulting for a glass company left him under 750 pounds of shattered glass.

“I shouldn’t be alive, I wasn’t black and blue, just black from my chin to my toes,” Vance explains. “I didn’t play the guitar for many years. Finally, from 2008-2010 I slowly started to teach myself to play the guitar again.”

Diagnosed with arthritis this year, Vance has had to alter his technique to continue playing guitar. He now strums chords while singing instead of picking notes.

“Everyone seems to like when I play and I like them for liking me,” Vance says.

Dr. Butler describes Vance as humble, not wanting to be in the spotlight, but happy he has been able to make an impact on patients. “I find it so inspiring that he chooses to travel to the clinic to help spread such healing notes and give back in this way,” says Dr. Butler.