Music at the bedside, one room at a time.
Playing Doctors is a brand-new idea: pairing volunteer musicians — in white coats, stethoscopes round their necks — with children and elderly patients in hospitals and nursing homes who could use a little comfort. The long-term goal is an international organisation. We are starting deliberately small.
A pulse… finding its rhythm.
Why “Playing Doctors”
Every child knows the game of “playing doctor” — pretend white coat, pretend stethoscope, taking care of a stuffed animal or a patient friend. Playing Doctors borrows that image, literally: volunteers who play instruments, dressed the part, visiting people for whom a hospital ward or a nursing-home common room is simply where their week is happening.
Music therapy is already used in many hospitals to ease anxiety and pain around procedures, and in care homes to reach patients who music can still find even when little else does. We are not inventing that idea. We want to make it easier to volunteer for, and to bring to places that don't yet have it — starting with one room, one instrument, one afternoon at a time.
At the bedside, and in the common room
Starting small, on purpose
We would rather grow slowly and safely than promise something we can't yet deliver. Here is the honest order of things.
- 10+ volunteer musicians have signed up
- Our first venue has confirmed — outreach continues with nursing homes and the local Red Cross chapter for what comes next
- Registering Playing Doctors as an NGO in Switzerland — in progress, not yet complete
Stage 0 · Founding
Recruiting our first volunteer musicians (10+ signed up already), and reaching out to nursing homes and the local Red Cross chapter for that first hospital visit.
Stage 1 · First room
One volunteer musician, one ward, one afternoon a month — our first venue has confirmed, and we're scheduling the pilot visit.
Stage 2 · One city
Registering Playing Doctors as an NGO in Switzerland, and building a small roster of trained volunteers visiting a handful of hospitals and care homes locally.
Stage 3 · One country
Formal safeguarding and training, and a broader network of hospital and care-home partnerships nationwide.
Stage 4 · International
Playing Doctors chapters in other countries, sharing training and materials with each other.
Get involved from the start
We're not asking for donations — there's no charity registered yet to receive them. What we do need, right now, is people.
- Musicians curious about hospital or care-home visits
- Nurses or administrators who might host a first pilot
- Anyone who has done something like this before and can tell us what to avoid
Test mode: Stripe sandbox, no real payments.