Meet the singing princess nurse

For Jodi Kubis, a trauma nurse in the Emergency Department at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill., caring for patients’ medical needs is just one of the things she loves about her job.

Known as the ‘Singing Nurse’ to patients, co-workers and now, the nation, after Good Morning America featured her in the video above, Jodi finds joy in bringing a smile to patients’ faces, singing tunes ranging from Disney to Patsy Cline.

Jodi’s voice has always made her stand out, singing on the side at fundraisers, Chicago Cubs games and children’s birthday parties. She even sang the National Anthem at the International Chicago 5k last fall before the marathon.

And on many occasions, she brings her talent to the hospital rooms at Lutheran General.

“Oftentimes, patients are in the ER with their families, including their kids, and children get nervous, that is, until I break out a princess tune,” she explains joyfully. “It doesn’t take any time out of my day or delay care. But I find it’s a nice distraction from what’s going on, it lightens the mood, makes this scary place seem a little less scary in that moment and brings the make believe back into their lives.”

Those tunes aren’t dedicated to kids of patients, though.

In fact, Jodi loves a good Patsy Cline song when caring for an older generation of patients. “I love to show off when I’m caring for adult patients, too. They look at me and don’t realize ‘young people’ know those songs. Oftentimes, they’ll even sing along, and their proud spouse begins to share how they were in this group or sang in the military or in church.”

Jodi can best be described by this statement – “I’m basically a therapy dog in a princess dress.”