Fulfilling an opera lover's final wish

Few things in opera are simple. Madame Butterfly endures three years of poverty waiting for her husband to return, only for him to steal their son. Rigoletto loses his daughter to the very curse he was trying to avert. Siegfried sings for almost four hours to get a ring back from a dragon.

So Amber Beam was a little surprised it took a single phone call to the New York Metropolitan Opera to fulfill a retirement home resident’s dying wish.

“The stars just aligned,” said Amber, an activities coordinator and Service Commitments Champion at Ascension Living Alexian Village Tennessee, a senior living home located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. “I got through the automated menu to a fellow named Jack and I told him the situation. He was instantly moved and connected me to the right person. Within minutes, they said ‘Let’s make it happen.’”

Met Opera livestream for a resident

Amber first met the resident on the shuttle bus to a local movie theater to watch a livestream of an opera at the Met.

“I was so taken with him. We all were,” Amber recalled. “He was facing backward on the bus and schooling us in all things opera. He was very dapper and had such a deep knowledge and love of opera, music, theater and all things beautiful.”

The resident's health began to decline and Amber saw him more frequently in the healthcare wing of the community. Because he was too ill to attend a broadcast of Bellini’s i Puritani, Amber arranged for the performance to be streamed in his private room. The Met was only too happy to do so for a patron of long standing.

“We had this big screen taking up the entire wall of this tiny room and speakers blasting,” Amber said. Although [the resident] was nonresponsive by this point, his family, his closest friends and a stream of visiting residents researched the opera on their phones and provided commentary, just as he once did.

“He would have loved being surrounded with the enthusiasm for the theater he had shared with others,” Amber said.

A couple days after hearing Arturo nail the high F in “Credeasi, misera” one last time, the resident passed on.

A calling to senior living care

Amber began her career as a certified nursing assistant (CNA). Ironically, the qualities that make her an excellent activities coordinator worked against her as a CNA.

“I lingered in the rooms and talked to people for too long,” Amber laughed.

After taking time to care for her parents and brother-in-law until their passing, Amber felt driven to return to healthcare. After a brief stint in hospice care, she finally found the perfect fit when an activities coordinator role opened up.

Much of Amber’s job involves bringing the fun to residents who are too sick or bedridden to attend events. This can involve bringing to their rooms live musicians, manicurists, trolleys of hot tea and scones, and even miniature Highland cows!

“A lot of our people are from rural backgrounds and grew up riding horses and living on farms, so it resonates with them,” Amber said, adding with a laugh. “We put a rabbit in one lady’s arms and she told us what delicious soup they made.”

Two years into her role as an activities coordinator, Amber still loves caring for the most vulnerable residents with the greatest needs.

“I feel like God led me in this direction,” she said.