iPods Help Dementia Patients in Nursing Homes
Could iPods help people with Dementia and Alzheimers? That is what the people at MusicAndMemory.org are hoping! Read this inspirational story and then go dig up those old iPods to donate to nursing homes to help our elders with Alzheimers and Dementia!
MusicAndMemory.org has an iPod Nursing Home Program for people with Dementia & Alzheimers. (Image Credit: J. Henning Buchholz / Shutterstock.com)
Henry Velez is a patient in a nursing home. He has had dementia for years. Most of the time he sits in his chair with his head down, barely speaking to anyone, not even knowing who his daughter is when she walks into the room. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, unable to connect with the outside world. That was until a social worker at the nursing home decided to let Velez listen to music. Many patients at the nursing home had the chance to listen to music, but it was hardly ever the music they wanted to listen too. She believed listening to music Velez grew up listening to might elicit a response. And it was quite the response. Velez immediately perked up when the music started and even asked if he could sing to the music, which he did.
As Dr. Travis Stork pointed out, the great philosopher Kant said music is the quickening art. There could be no truer statement after watching Velez nearly jump from his seat when the music started.
Music and Memory: iPod Old Home Program
The Doctors talked to Dan Cohen, the Director for Music and Memory, about how he intends to get music to all dementia patients and how he figured out it could help these patients. Cohen said he came up with the idea of giving patients iPods with their own specified music on them, after he saw so many people listening to them on the street. As Dr. Stork pointed out, music is highly connected to memory, reminding us of out first kiss or our first time driving a car or basically anything, which may be the reason the music made Velez so lively. It was stimulating his brain.
How to Donate iPods to Nursing Homes
If anyone would like to donate to Music and Memory please visit the website at musicandmemory.com.
