Tanja Obear (left) and Gina Pandiani attend meeting of Marin Activity Coordinators. Photo by Woody Weingarten.
Donations of $500 and iPods — from students at San Domenico School in San Anselmo — got the ball rolling.
So residents of WindChime of Marin, a memory-care facility in Kentfield, just over the line from Ross, now can derive pleasure from personalized music playlists on the digital devices.
As a bonus, the portable players typically open what’s been called “a backdoor” to memory and the mind.
I call it a coming-out party.
Stemming from an unpretentious program that can temporarily steer men and women back from the isolation that dementia, Alzheimer’s and other serious ailments sometimes dictate.
“The more specific the playlist,” explained Tanja Obear, WindChime’s activity director, “the more effective it is. And it’s best if songs from the teenage years to the mid-20’s, their ‘fun-time,’ are selected.”
But there’s a wide spectrum of likes, Tanja noted, “ranging
Digital accessories and iPods are displayed at WindChime. Photo by Woody Weingarten.
from music of the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s to others — younger — who want to hear Led Zeppelin.”
Gina Pandiani, president of Marin Activity Coordinators (MAC), cleared my attendance at the group’s recent 90-minute meeting at WindChime. There, nine women watched three snippets from a documentary, “Alive Inside,” and discussed how “Music & Memory,” the program that generated the video, could be implemented throughout the county.
I was encouraged.
I’d screened the video about a month before. And wept.
It was that touching, that inspiring.
A clip from it, featuring “Henry,” a dementia patient “awakened” by music from his iPod, has gone viral.
More than 11 million views.
And counting.
A thousand senior facilities and nursing homes have instituted the memory program so far. But the hope is for way more — 16,000 in the United States, 65,000 throughout the world.
WindChime began with only 10 iPods.
By the time MAC met, all but three of 48 residents had playlists (after a three-month process to fully implement the program).
The biggest problem the facility encountered, reported Bradlee Ann Foerschner, its executive director, was “keeping all the iPods charged.”
Not really an obstacle.
The music itself can occasionally be challenging, though.
One meeting attendee encountered “a banjo player who wanted only bluegrass music on his iPod” and insisted he “couldn’t abide Frank Sinatra.”
Marie Van Soest, a WindChime resident who’d previously lived in San Anselmo, differed.
She adores Sinatra.
And oldies like “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “New York New York” and “Lady Be Good.”
She told me she looks forward to hearing them.
Again and again.
The main aim of “Music & Memory” seems achievable.
That is, to improve the quality of life for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, for the depressed and infirm, for the lonely, for the elderly in general — by supplying easy access to music they once loved.
“The program’s not going to reverse the effects of dementia,” said Bradlee, “but it’s going to evoke memories from the past — and the joy of those memories.”
Cognitive abilities can improve as well as mood.
I’ve seen both happen, in fact, while watching my wife, Nancy Fox, play piano and provide patter in senior and memory-care facilities in Marin.
Immobilized residents mouthed words from long-forgotten tunes.
And rhythmically tapped their toes and fingers.
I’ve watched deer-in-headlights eyes light up — and stay alert for a while.
“Music & Memory,” I’m also convinced, can cut costs by reducing the need for certain medications. And it can produce residents’ desire to interact with others.
Bradlee gave an example.
One WindChime resident is French and “loves to dance to the music. Her entire playlist is French songs. She’s very sweet to watch, and wants everyone else to hear what she hears, to enjoy what she enjoys.”
Some residents prefer keeping to themselves, however.
Another resident, Bradlee observed, just blissfully and wordlessly “plays invisible piano.”
Virtually everyone involved with the iPod program listed the same caveat: Despite its genuine promise, personalized music is no magical cure.
Still, Gina, who’s also the Community Life Services director at Aldersly in San Rafael, suggested the devices offer “a perfect way for volunteers to step up” since residents need only push a single button to start or stop the music.
Bradlee summed up why she’s sanguine about the program: “I’m always talking quality of life and this program enriches the residents lives.”
One coordinator’s reaction was succinct: “It’s such a great idea — so cool.”
I concur.
Contact Woody Weingarten at voodee@sbcglobal.net or at www.vitalitypress.com/
