Music & Memory Provides Comfort for the Elderly and Dementia Patients

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“iPods were ubiquitous for young people but not for the elderly, who love music just as much as anyone,” Cohen said.” Alzheimer’s and dementia robbed many of these people of their memory. But their emotional systems are intact. Music can tap into that emotion and bring back certain feelings.”

The organization has received lots of attention since its inception, including an endorsement by musician Elvis Costello and a well-known documentary about its services called “Alive Inside.” Music & Memory collects roughly 200 donated iPods/mp3 players per month for nursing home and hospital use, despite the fact that Apple discontinued its traditional iPod models in 2017.

Music & Memory’s noticeable success for nursing home and dementia patients has spurred the program’s growth. Oftentimes nursing homes and hospitals struggle to keep patients happy and engaged. Live music performances can help, but the Music & Memory program is tailored specifically for each patients’ needs and preferences.

“It has been absolutely amazing to see someone’s face light up when they hear their own personalized music,” said Kim Martinson, a nurse at Morseland Nursing Home in Wisconsin. “We have seen a decrease in adverse resident behaviors, less wandering, more social interaction, and the residents are more upbeat and happy after listening to their music.”

Music & Memory is dedicated to person-centered care. They offer a certification program for organizations to be providers of the personalized music program. There are roughly 5,000 facilities across the globe that have added the Music & Memory program to their services.

Care providers seemingly can’t praise the program enough, and the results speak for themselves.

“Despite the enormous sums of money spent on mood-and behavior-altering medications that are often not particularly effective,” says Tony Lewis, President and CEO, Cobble Hill Health Care, Brooklyn, New York, “nothing compares to these iPods when it comes to improving quality of life.”

Program Beginnings

Dan Cohen began Music & Memory with a bit of a selfish idea: If he ever ended up in a nursing home, he wanted to be able to listen to his favorite ‘60s music. In 2006, he’d heard how popular iPods had become, and wondered how to utilize their music-providing power for nursing home patients.

At the time, he learned that none of the 16,000 or so long-term care facilities in the U.S. provided iPods or mp3 players to their residents. Eventually he volunteered at a local nursing home in Greater New York and created personalized playlists for its residents. The initial program was a success and became the prototype for a larger effort.

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In 2008, Dan brought 200 iPods to four long-term care facilities in New York to test the program on a larger scale. Successful trials led to the creation of Music & Memory as a 501(c) (3) non-profit in 2010.

Since then, Music & Memory has grown significantly, reaching beyond the United States to Canada, Argentina, Australia, Israel and numerous countries in Europe. The program has also moved beyond helping solely elderly and cognitively-disabled patients. Music therapy can also aid those in rehab and detox programs, as well as people with mental handicaps.

How Music & Memory Helps

Music & Memory provides guidance to individual professionals or a team of caregivers within long-term care facilities to create personalized music programs for patients who choose to participate.

A successful implementation of the program includes detailed direction and support via two 90-minute webinar trainings and a year of monthly, one-to-one consulting services.

The training program covers a multitude of topics related to the brain, music and memory. According to the Music & Memory website, personalized, therapeutic music can enable listeners to regain social skills and live a fuller life.

Much of the program focuses on the fact that music is profoundly linked with personal memories. Music can bring forth emotional recollections and well-preserved memories in everyone, including people with dementia and other cognitive disabilities.

In fact, a recent blog post on the Music & Memory website showcases new research into the benefits of personalized music and brain activity for people with dementia.

“The music that we love is tied in with our emotional system, and our emotional system is still very much intact even with dementia and Alzheimer’s,” says Cohen. “That’s what we’re connecting and that’s what still works.”

With organizations like Music & Memory, elderly patients and those suffering from cognitive decline can live more robust, emotionally fulfilling lives. This in turn makes things easier and less burdensome for everyone, including care facility workers and patients’ families.