AZTEC, N.M. (AP) - About 20 residents of the Good Samaritan Society’s Four Corners Village sat inside a chapel on the Aztec campus on Wednesday and sang the hymn “The Sweet By-and-By.”
One woman who rarely speaks to caretakers sung along softly while clutching two stuffed cats. During the song, she kissed one of the toys on the head.
In a back corner of the chapel sat another woman who often repeats phrases over and over, but she sang every word of the hymn without a problem.
Every day, musical opportunities provide the residents of the independent and assisted living community a link to their past. Now, staff at nursing homes and assisted living facilities throughout San Juan County are trying to harness the power of music to help patients with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Four Corners Village is in the process of starting a Music and Memory program. The program provides nursing home residents iPods loaded with music they enjoyed decades ago. The idea is to help resident regain memories they have forgotten by using songs they recognize.
Over the last few years, the program has gained popularity, particularly after it was featured in the 2012 documentary “Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory.” The film won the 2014 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for U.S. documentary.
In 2012, Music and Memory surveyed facilities using the program and found that the personalized music helped calm residents and ease depression and anxiety. Scientific studies have yielded similar results. For instance, a study published in 2010 in the Journal of Clinical Nursing linked personalized music with reduced anxiety in dementia patients at nursing homes.
To implement the program, Four Corners Village is collecting iPods, headphones and iTunes gift cards. Staff will then program playlists for residents with songs that were popular when they were young or songs that hold special meaning to them.
On Wednesday, Curtis Owen was visiting his mother, Joann Owen, 82, at the home when staff told him about the program. He said it sounds like a good idea.
“I can remember her having that music album (by) Harry Belafonte,” he said, before signing a few words from one of the star’s most famous songs, “The Banana Boat Song.”
He said he also remembers his mother singing along to the radio. Now, Joann Owen looks forward to monthly visits from a Mennonite choir that sings at the nursing home. Her son thinks the choir reminds her of her childhood in Ohio and the Amish community there.
“She always looks forward to listening to them,” Curtis Owen said of the choir.
More than 80 residents live at the Four Corners Village, and the majority have Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.
Olaya Rascon works as a nurse in the memory care unit. Before lunchtime on Wednesday, five of her patients sat quietly in a community room as music by composers like Ludwig Van Beethoven played softly in the background.
“We’re getting them calm for lunch,” Rascon explained.
She said music can often be used as a tool to calm patients, rather than resorting to medication.
The New Mexico Health Care Association announced plans in February to roll out Music and Memory program in nursing homes throughout New Mexico. The association received Civil Money Penalty funds through the state to start the program. The funds are collected as fines from nursing homes.
Tracy Alter, the senior director of member services for the association, said the money will help the association implement the program at 66 nursing homes in the state, providing iPods to 990 residents. Among those nursing homes are four in San Juan County, Cedar Ridge Inn in Farmington, Life Care Center of Farmington, San Juan Care And Rehabilitation Center and Bloomfield Nursing and Rehabilitation.
“The program itself is just an excellent way to help people with Alzheimer’s reconnect a little,” Alter said.
But the association does not yet have funding for assisted living facilities, which includes Four Corners Village. As part of its effort to collect iPods for residents, the village will have a benefit concert in June to raise money and collect donations. People interested in donating can also contact Four Corners Village by calling 505-334-9445 or bringing items by the office, 500 Care Lane in Aztec.
Vani Barry, the administrator for Four Corners Village, said the program makes sense. Just watching residents at the nursing home has shown her the power of music - from one resident asking her to dance when a Johnny Cash song came on to another talking about the church she once attended after singing a few gospel songs.
Bethanne O’Keefe, the marketing and resource director at Four Corners Village, is also excited about implementing the new program.
“When I saw how people responded to it, it struck a chord with me,” she said, adding that her grandmother has been diagnosed with dementia.
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Information from: The Daily Times, https://www.daily-times.com
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