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A new program available at Trinity Homes can help patients improve their memory through music.

As a MUSIC & MEMORY® Certified Care Organization, Trinity Homes can help residents living with a wide range of cognitive and physical challenges find renewed joy in life through musical favorites.

The program is “mostly aimed toward residents with Alzheimer’s and dementia,” but it is geared to all patients who like music and who have cognitive issues, such as “depression, anxiety, pain issues, insomnia,” explained Monica Sorgen, RN, Clinical Nurse Educator at Trinity Homes.

Trinity Homes received the grant for the program in January 2019, with training beginning in March. “With the initial grant, Trinity Homes received education, training, certification, and 10 iPods with headphones, a laptop for our iTunes account, and iTunes gift cards to buy music for the residents,” Sorgen said.

A pilot group of 10 residents, all of whom have a diagnosis of dementia, will kick off the program, with two activities staff and two CNAs visiting the residents and their families to pick out individualized music for the program. (Sorgen noted that one program participant loves ABBA; another, Christian gospel music.) “We can get a variety of whatever they like and download it and put it on there for them,” she said. The music is then downloaded and loaded onto an iPod.

Studies published in the Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease and The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry show that familiar music “may facilitate attention, reward, and motivation, which in turn makes it more possible to manage emotional distress in Alzheimer’s,” as well as increasing the rates of reduction in behavioral problems.

“Hopefully, once we get it moving, we’ll be able to get funding or donations, so we can buy more equipment, to get more residents involved,” Sorgen said.

If you would like to donate, drop the items at the front desk at Trinity Homes and specify that they are for the MUSIC & MEMORY program. Donations could include used iPods, headphones, or iTunes gift cards.