Avis Williams

RN Avis Williams has worked at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Queens, New York for more than two decades. Over her 23-year nursing career Williams has developed her skills as a healer, as well as her passion for music.
 
“I have been singing in the church since I was five years old, but I started singing professionally four years ago,” says Williams, who works on the Behavioral Health unit at St. John’s Episcopal. “Along the way, my patients have always encouraged me to sing.”
 
Williams recently released her first album of Reggae music, “Avis Unwinds.” At Reggae Fest 2003, she performed with Bunny Wailer, an original member along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, of the seminal reggae group, The Wailers.
 
Williams believes that having music in her life has made her a better nurse. “I’m able to let out my emotions. When I get stressed I sing. I make up lyrics. I grab my karaoke machine. I make up lyrics. I’m able to use music to create a positive situation,” she says.

Williams has seen the powerful impact of music on the lives of her patients. “When I was a new nurse I had a patient who was comatose and was not expected to live. I would go in and sing to him. I’m not saying that’s all that did it, but a month later, that patient walked out of the hospital,” says Williams. “We deal with the body and the soul. Music can do so many things. It can be another form of healing.”