(NewsNation) — Cardiovascular surgery is a very serious operation, but one Alabama doctor is using the power of dance to encourage and bring a moment of joy to her young patients ahead of their procedures.
Five years ago, Dr. Lynn Batten, also known as Dr. Fun, made a music video with some colleagues in the cardiology unit to cheer up a young patient, today her Dance Party USA videos have been seen tens of thousands of times on YouTube and Tiktok.
While the movement started as a video from one patient, dancing has become life-changing for so many others.
The University of South Alabama pediatric cardiologist said she’s always loved dancing, but it wasn’t until she made that one video that she realized how much encouragement it gives her patients.
“We have a lot of kids, young kids with obesity and high blood pressure and diabetes. Kids like to sit and watch YouTube videos, and so we thought let’s get them involved. They could request songs, and we’ve had several patients do their own dances; they’ve been in the dance videos.”
As much as they’re having a good time, Batten started doing the videos to calm her patients’ nerves.
“They can be very nervous because it’s serious coming into a cardiologist. My nurse will show them we’ve got a YouTube, ‘You should pull it up and see and she’s not scary, she’s gonna dance,’ and they will calm down,” Batten explained. “It definitely does calm them down, and they realize we’re just people like they are we’re just humans. So it’s fun.”