As the late Salvador Villalobos battled throat cancer, he was anxious about a lot of things, said his wife, Mary Villalobos.

"He would be so nervous about this or that," Villalobos said. "There were so many issues in his head at the time."

After doctors in Albuquerque recommended hospice care for her husband, Villalobos learned that The Hospice Center, run by Presbyterian Medical Services, offered the services of an El Rito-based nonprofit organization called Circle of Love. Founded by Judith Shotwell, the organization offers comfort music to individuals in hospice care and their families.

"I asked him, 'Do you want Judith to come and play?' And he said, 'Oh yes. I'd love it,' " Villalobos explained. When Shotwell came, armed with one of her five harps, and began to play, Villalobos could see how peaceful her husband became.

"He would be real calm," Villalobos said, adding that Shotwell always made the environment very comfortable and inviting. "He had serenity. It gave him time to think in the last few weeks. ... He just loved it."

When Salvador Villalobos died in 1999, Villalobos wanted to give back to the organization that had helped her husband. She joined the Circle of Love board to show her appreciation.

"Judith and her music were a great inspiration in our lives," Villalobos said. "She made the last days of my husband's life very comfortable and he found peace."

Journey to healing

Shotwell came to New Mexico in 1995 from the East Coast, where she worked mostly in theater. She had become restless in theater and wanted to try something different. She had heard Therese Schroeder-Sheker, founder of the Chalice of Repose Project School of Music-Thanatology, speak on National Public Radio, and became interested in the field of music-thanatology, a form of palliative care using a combination of medicine and music in end-of-life care.

"One of the underlying ideas of the work is that sound has an impact on our bodies and our emotions and our spiritual state," Shotwell said. "So the sound itself is a potent way of providing care."

She enrolled in the Schroeder-Sheker music-thanatology program at St. Patrick's Hospital in Missoula, Mont.

"I was just captivated by the whole idea of using music in a very specific way to really address and provide care," Shotwell said. "I'm a big believer in the arts, and I really believe arts can change lives."

Circle of Love was officially incorporated in 1997, and Shotwell began working with hospice centers around New Mexico. Eventually she concentrated her work with The Hospice Center in Santa Fe.

"Palliative music means comfort," Shotwell said. "Palliative medicine seeks to at least provide care even if cure is no longer possible. It focuses on relieving physical pain and emotional pain."

Shotwell plays harp for her patients, and has a few other people who sing occasionally. She doesn't play music that would be familiar because she doesn't want to run the risk of playing a song that has a negative association for a patient.

"I don't know the associations that person has" with a particular song, Shotwell said. "It may bring up something painful. It may bring up the past at a time when it's really not helpful to bring the past up."

She prefers to use unknown music that can serve as a means to create a peaceful environment for the patient and the family.

Though Shotwell doesn't accept volunteers for singing or playing music — she prefers people who are trained in palliative music-thanatology — she is always looking for volunteers to serve on the board and for donors. For more information, visit www.comfortcaremusic.com.

Shotwell said her work is very rewarding.

"I feel very humbled because I witness so much love," Shotwell said. "I get to see families really pulling together as they care for their loved one."

Shotwell usually sets up her harp closest to the patient — and the family members can arrange themselves however they want in the room.

"There was once a very beautiful occasion where the music seemed to open up a space for this elderly person who was passing away," Shotwell said.

"One by one, each of his children began speaking to their father; telling him what they loved about him and thanking him for how he had raised them. I just kept playing as they spoke about their father. It all just worked together."

"I found that the care and the compassion and (Judith's) interest in the patient was what my husband needed at that time in his life," Villalobos said. "(Judith) came to our home with such love and understanding, and her beautiful music gave my husband ease of mind and made him feel comfortable and content."

Not just for comfort

Though Shotwell grew restless with theater at one point, she never lost her love for it and didn't want to waste her theater background. Ten years ago, she got funding from the McCune Foundation and others to produce Many Rivers, One Ocean.

"It brought together six elders and shared in music and stories of some of the traditions around caring for people at the end of life and what happens when you die," Shotwell said, adding that she toured the production around the state for several months.

She wanted to explore the topic of death as well.

"I feel as though death is such a taboo subject and people are afraid of it," Shotwell said. "Naturally, there is a lot of grief surrounding it and consequently it's very difficult for people to share their experiences when they lose a loved one. I just wanted to give people permission to share with each other and to share in a bigger setting."

Two years ago, she did another piece titled Sailing by Night, which premiered in November and examined some of the experiences she's had with Circle of Love.

"It was just to convey some of the incredible experiences I've had," Shotwell said. "Caring for people at the very end of life is such a profound and sacred way to be with them. I've been privileged to have some very beautiful times with people."

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.