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Music and Alzheimer's Program helping residents at Beverly Healthcare |
| Channels » Home » News » Music and Alzheimer's Program helping residents at Beverly Healthcare |
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February 11, 2004 |
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This article by Jeff Adkins was reprinted with permission from the Feb. 11, 2004, edition of the Smithville (Miss.) Herald.
Alzheimer’s disease has stripped Juanita Laird of her ability to communicate and remember.
It hasn’t taken away her ability to play the piano. While Laird can’t tell you what she’s playing, the notes to “Old Rugged Cross” are clear.
“It’s amazing she can still do it,” said her daughter, Tamara Brauninger. “She’s not doing as well as she was six months ago. She’s not doing as well as she was a year ago. A year and a half ago, you could pretty much tell her an older piece of music and she would play it.
“Then you would ask her what she just played and she couldn’t tell you. It’s not easy to understand.”
Music and art are playing an emerging role in the lives of Alzheimer’s patients. At Beverly Healthcare in Smithville [Miss.], Laird and other residents participate in music and art therapy classes three times a week.
Sara Meinking, Alzheimer’s Care Director, said the programs provide residents in the early and advanced stages of the disease an outlet to express themselves. That’s important when patients are losing a sense of control over their lives.
Music is no cure, but it is helping therapists “steal small victories,” in battling the disease, said Meinking, who has a degree in music therapy.
“It’s a form of nonverbal communication with Alzheimer’s patients,” she said. “Because their cognitive skills have declined, they may know just a few words, or have trouble completing a sentence.
“With music it’s really pretty amazing. It’s something they just fall into, a soothing act they can enjoy. Some of them can sit and sing songs with no problems at all, no disruptions in the song. For whatever reason, it seems to work.”
Meinking believes music helps trigger the intrinsic rhythms of the human body. At a music therapy session last Friday, seven residents gathered to play tone chimes, instruments similar to hand bells. The players, most of whom were in the early or middle stages of the disease, watched Meinking and chimed their instruments on call to play songs ranging from “Hello Dolly” to “Greensleeves.”
The music program, in its sixth month, had also used other instruments as therapy tools.
“Alzheimer’s patients have incredible rhythm,” Meinking said. “They can do rhythmic exercises. When you’re using wooden sticks, you can play a rhythm and they can repeat it back to you.
“When music is set at a tempo, we naturally fall into that beat. Some of that has to do with the natural rhythm of our heart. It’s that intrinsic rhythm inside all of us.”
Those who do not play instruments filter into the small room and listen, another benefit of the program, Meinking said.
The art therapy program, developed by the Alzheimer’s Association, started last month.
“For those who hesitate a little, if you just help them make that first mark on paper--draw the first line--their inhibitions are a little less,” Meinking said. “They get a little more confident.”
Meinking believes music and art therapy can play a role in slowing the rate of dementia. The Alzheimer’s Association and the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) agree. Specifically, the AMTA believes the benefits of music therapy for Alzheimer’s patients include:
• Memory recall, which contributes to reminiscence and satisfaction with life
• Positive changes in mood and emotion state
• Anxiety and stress reduction for patients and caregivers
• Emotional intimacy when families share creative musical experiences
Sharing a love for music is something Brauninger said she clings to as her mother’s disease steadily progresses. Laird, 88, left her home in Kearney last year for permanent care at Beverly.
“It’s really a terrible disease,” [Brauninger] said. “It’s so hard when you try to make conversation with her, to know she does really know you. When she sees us, you can tell she thinks it’s somebody she should know.”
Laird learned to play the piano by ear. She’s been playing music since she was 3 years old, often performing at church, Brauninger said. It’s always helped her through rough times. After her husband died 20 years ago, Laird comforted herself by playing the organ and accordion.
When she needed permanent care, the family searched for a facility with a piano.
On Friday, Laird sat down at the piano and residents filed in for their music therapy session with Meinking. When the session closed an hour later, Laird was still playing the piano as a group of residents listened nearby.
“Mother was always an entertainer,” Brauninger said. “She performed all her life one way or another. I think it’s good she can still do that and make people happy.”
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