It’s official. Music & Memory is growing like crazy! Thanks to so many of you who support our efforts and understand the profound benefits of personalized music for individuals with cognitive and physical challenges, we have surpassed the 1,000 mark for MUSIC & MEMORY® Certified Facilities.
Our member organizations include nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hospitals, hospices and adult day health centers, as we continue to expand. In celebration, here are some of the wonderful things that people have to say about how Music & Memory benefits their residents and clients:
“Music & Memory is awesome! We are up to seven patients. I was trying to stay at five for January, but the staff is begging me to add patients to the program. One of my greatest moments yet is when one of our residents, who hasn’t said a coherent thing to me in months, looked straight at me and said “thank you” twice with a huge grin on her face.”
Reverend Charles Thornburg, Chaplain
Director of Spirituality, Signature HealthCare of Clarksville“The Music & Memory efforts at Morristown and Overlook Medical Centers (in our delirium programs) get such tremendous accolades from patients and their families, but also from nursing staff. Can’t thank you enough for the iPod through Healthcare Foundation.”
Lori Ann Rizzuto, LCSW
Morristown Medical Center, Morristown, N.J.
Overlook Medical Center, Summit, N.J.“There has been a lot of activity around Music & Memory in our region in North Carolina. As you know, we started a county-wide initiative in 2013 involving all of our long-term care facilities, assisted living and PACE who all serve seniors with memory impairments. We have heard wonderful stories of how people who were once agitated are now more happy-go-lucky and peaceful. Yesterday I witnessed in our own community a women tapping her feet and smiling with the iPod, overjoyed when we told her again that the iPod was hers to keep! Wonderful!”
Amy Gorely, MPA
Director of Strategic Initiatives and Outreach
Carolina Meadows, Chapel Hill, N.C.“I just used the iPod last week to help a patient stop smoking. We made a deal that I would hook him up with a meaningful activity (iPod music) so that he wouldn’t get bored and head out to the smoke shack. He could use it as long as he remained smoke free and a patient here. He is now 10 days smoke free and credits it to the music.”
Cheryl Fabello BSN, Charge Nurse
Boise VA Medical Center, Idaho“Music & Memory has done wonders in our facility. I have been in this business for over 30 years. This is giving people a spark. You have to change with the times and this approach is part of it. Sometimes it’s the little things. We have one resident who has advanced dementia and was asleep. He used to be in a barbershop quartet, but hasn’t responded to music in a long time. We put the headphones on him and he started tapping his foot. To us, this is huge.”
Deb Jacoby, Life Enrichment Director
Rocky Knoll Health Care Center
Plymouth, Wisconsin
And here’s a sample of some of the best recent coverage of Music & Memory, from WXIA-TV in Atlanta, Georgia, featuring A.G. Rhodes Health & Rehab Wesley Woods. This video originally aired on February 12, 2015.
Thank you, everyone, for your enthusiasm and commitment. Without you, we would never have come this far. Your continuing support and involvement is helping to bring us closer to achieving personalized music as a standard of care.
Founded in 2010, MUSIC & MEMORY® is a non-profit organization that brings personalized music into the lives of the elderly or infirm through digital music technology, vastly improving quality of life.
Photo Credit: OakleyOriginals via Compfight cc
