Spectrum News 1: DJ Pau Pau Keeps Spirits High Amid Difficult COVID-19 Surge
Spectrum News 1 recently featured Cedars-Sinai nurse Paulina Andujo, RN, in a segment about her use of DJing to relieve stress and give her co-workers an escape amid rising numbers of COVID-19 cases.
During the day, Andujo educates patients before and after joint replacement surgery. “I like being an orthopedic nurse because I get to see the patients get up and be able to move after being in pain, sometimes for years,” Andujo told Spectrum News 1.
At night, Andujo becomes DJ Pau Pau. “I’ll DJ here, private parties. I will DJ in the middle of the street; it doesn’t matter to me. I just like to play music,” Andujo told Spectrum News 1.
A novice DJ, Andujo enrolled at the Beat Junkie Institute of Sound in Glendale, California, where she fell in love with the craft. She favors hip-hop music and occasionally plays tracks by Vicente Fernandez and other Latinx artists.
As her work became more stressful during the COVID-19 pandemic, DJing became a form of therapy for Andujo. “We had a lot of patients that we lost, and that’s hard, even now, to still think about it,” she told Spectrum News 1.
Andujo hosted virtual parties for her co-workers that allowed everyone to let loose. In video from these sessions, her fellow nurses wear DJ Pau Pau stickers and dance to the beat from their own homes.
Andujo continues to turn to DJing after a long day as a way to escape and connect with people. “I just want people to be happy when I play music,” Andujo told Spectrum News 1.
Click here to watch the complete story from Spectrum News1.