Nurse Mika Mamon expresses her feelings and experiences as an ICU nurse during the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic in her song entitled “Stand Together Apart.” In it, she also shares a powerful message with both health care workers and members of the public.
There is a long list of songs that have been written or reworked during the epidemic to honor nurses and other frontline workers. What sets this music video apart is that the song was written and performed by a frontline nurse and is dedicated to other frontline workers across the globe.
Song written while in self-isolation
Mika Mamon, originally from the Philippines, regularly works in a surgical unit, at James Cook University Hospital in the UK. When the epidemic broke out, she was called on to assist in an ICU unit caring for COVID-19 patients and eventually became infected herself.
One night, while in self-isolation, she was feeling scared and depressed. Unable to sleep, she decided to write down her feelings in a song. “The song is all about frontliners,” Mamon explained. “Their feelings, hopes, we come to work every day, always with the fear of contracting the virus, the fear of bringing it home.”
Every health care worker on the frontlines can surely relate to the lines:
You spend your days just hoping for a hero
To take away the strain and pull you through
Today would be a good day for a hero
If you look inside, the hero….. is in you.
The song, however, goes on to share a message of hope and togetherness in the chorus:
Hold on – stand together apart
Hold on – use the love in your heart
Together we’re making history – we’re all one true family
Hold on, hold on – stand together apart.
Artists from across the world
Mamon is an experienced vocalist, having been a lead singer in bands and currently part of the electro/acoustic duo, Pearl Butterflies. Daniel Hunt, Mamon’s partner, composed the music for Stand Together Apart.
The recording was made with the help of producer Carl Pemberton and musicians from across the globe, two of whom were also nurses. The crescendo at the end of the track is an overlay of the voices of hundreds of people from all over the world who were invited to take part.
The music video can be downloaded from various music video platforms. All proceeds will go to Help for Health Heroes, a fundraiser to assist health care workers infected with the virus. The track went live on May 10 and has been downloaded over 100,000 times.
More COVID-19 tributes to health care staff
You might also want to take look at the following videos which were created during the epidemic in support of nurses and other frontline health care workers:
International Nurses Day Poem, written and recited by Molly Case, about nursing stretching from one corner of the world to the other.
Good Job, a captivating tribute to frontline workers sung by Alicia Keys. The song starts with the words “You’re the engine that makes all things go, and you’re always in disguise”.
Give You a Hand, a beautiful song written by Dawn Lunsford, the musician wife of a pediatric oncology nurse, to thank nurses for what they’re doing in these extraordinary times. Proceeds of the song will go to the Show Me Your Stethoscope Foundation which supports and advocates for nurses.
Lean On Me cover song, a fun video created for Nurses Week with 30 nurses from across the US each singing a line or two—some on a serious note and others with a touch of humor. The project was the brainchild of Alessandra Lopez and produced by Stefan J Torres, both registered nurses.
Saving Us is an original song thanking doctors and nurses for what they were doing in the face of the epidemic. While under lockdown, musician Ryan Nach felt that he wanted to contribute something. He then came up with the idea of composing this tribute and then recorded it with some friends. Proceeds are being donated to New York Hospitals caring for COVID-19 patients.