Singing prodigy wows patients at Augustana

Ten-year-old singing sensation and semi-finalist from the 2013 season of “The Voice Kids of Germany,” Chelsea Fontenel, treated residents and staff of the Lutheran Augustana Center for Extended Care and Rehabilitation to a special performance on Monday, July 28.

The Swiss native – whose grandmother works at Lutheran Augustana Center – said this was her second time visiting the Big Apple.

“We went to Coney Island and I’ve also been to Manhattan. Every day, I always hear the emergency [ambulance]; everyday something is going on,” she said.

The center’s patients gleefully greeted Fontenel as she made her way to the microphone. But, singing isn’t her only interest; she also participates in tennis tournaments on the weekends. “Since I am also singing, I want to be the first singing tennis player,” Fontenel said.

President of Lutheran Augustana Center for Extended Care and Rehabilitation Jeanne Lee said, “Were very excited to have Chelsea here first because it provides another extension of the non-clinical services we provide. But we also give the youth of today [the opportunity] to be of service and to really be comfortable with the elderly.”