ELKINS, W. Va. — The Elkins Rehabilitation and Care Center is working to implement a program that aims to help its elderly residents recall memories through music.
Music & Memory trains elder care professionals to put together personalized playlists for those struggling with Alzheimer’s and dementia to reconnect with their past.
“It is something that is good for them that brings back a time of happiness and helps even stimulate memories that then they can actually talk about, like, “I remember that song when,” said Denise Campbell, the ERCC’s administrator. “It does help with the memory.”
The national nonprofit organization was officially recognized in 2010, but began years earlier when its founder and executive director Dan Cohen volunteered at a nursing home in New York, creating personalized playlists for residents. The response was so positive the endeavor received funding from the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation to provide 200 iPods in order to test the program at four facilities.
The success of the program has expanded to 49 states, five countries and was the subject of the documentary “Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory” in 2012.
Music & Memory was brought to ERCC’s attention by Linda Zimmer, the expressive arts therapist for the facility and has become the first certified by the organization in the Mountain State.
Campbell says they will start small, beginning with residents of the recently developed dementia unit.
“We have a very strong interest in taking care of residents who have memory [loss], dementia, Alzheimer’s and we are in the midst of getting a unit developed in our facility,” she said. “We thought this program would really connect with our expansion of having a defined dementia unit.”
As resources come in, the program will expand from there.
“First start with that population of those 25 residents, but our total facility has 111,” Campbell said. “Our ultimate goal is that every patient in the facility will have their own iPod with their own music that they enjoy.”
To help gather the resources to reach this ultimate goal, Zimmer has helped organize benefits within the community. One such event, “The Melody Lingers On” concert was held Sunday at the Randolph County Community Arts Center, featuring local area musicians.
“We’re trying to encourage anyone who would want to be a sponsor,” Campbell said. “We just really believe that this is something positive and we’re always looking for things to do that are positive for the patients that we take care of.”
Other events are planned and ERCC is accepting donations in the form of gently used iPods and iTunes gift cards at its 1175 Beverly Pike location in Elkins.