Therapy just music to their ears
THE magic of music is proving an important therapy for residents living with dementia at Mercy Place Westcourt, thanks to members of The Lioness Club of Cairns.
Headsets and MP3 players are being provided by the club for a music therapy program, which allows the families of residents to make a playlist of their loved one’s favourite music so it can be accessed at any time to provide relaxation and happy memories.
Mercy Place Westcourt service manager Angela Cox said the therapeutic effect of music for seniors, particularly those living with dementia and other related conditions, couldn’t be overstated.
“Generally speaking, music is an incredible trigger for emotions and memories from our past to emerge,” she said.
“We’re delighted to have the support of The Lioness Club of Cairns to help us provide an uplifting and positive experience for our residents through facilitating their own personalised playlists.
“It’s quite lovely to see residents who are usually very quiet and sometimes confused express their joy and sing along to the music they love from many decades ago.
“The introduction of the program has had an extremely positive influence on residents and the feedback from everyone has been very positive.”
Cairns Lioness Club secretary Narelle Hanrahan said the project was launched in Cairns after a Lions convention in Proserpine last year.
“Proserpine Lions Club started the project and we thought as a Lioness Club we could do the same thing in Cairns,” Ms Hanrahan said.
“We gathered the information from them and we’ve been running with it ever since.
“We received a $4000 grant from Cazalys, a $1000 grant from Stockland Cairns and held a fashion parade at the Pier to raise another $2500 towards the program.”
The headset project has now been launched in three Cairns nursing homes — Mercy Place Westcourt, Mercy Place Woree and Bupa Aged Care in White Rock.
Ms Hanrahan said the program had initially been introduced to those with dementia.
“But down the track, we hope to extend it to people with Parkinson’s living in nursing homes,” she said.
“The response has been absolutely wonderful.
“Residents are so grateful and appreciative.
“There have been some who don’t like the headsets on their head, so we’re not going to please all the people all the time.”