Wish Book: The power of music helps combat dementia.
Nonprofit turns to technology to spark memories of those with Alzheimer’s or dementia
SAN JOSE — Elwilda Lee remembers church choir practice in Colorado, the alfalfa fields at Edwards Air Force Base and the exact year her husband died, but when the 84year-old hears the dreamy tune “Oh, How I Miss You Tonight,” her memory goes back to childhood.
“I was a little girl, and my dad used to play the banjo and we would sing to it so I would remember it for a long time,” said Lee, who goes by the nickname Maggie.
Nowadays, like many others facing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, Lee’s recollection of the past is fading. But on a recent Wednesday, when she hears a recording at Live Oak Adult Day Services in San Jose of the song by country artist Jim Reeves, Lee instantly recalls the lyrics.
“Oh, how I miss you tonight. Miss you when lights are low. Oh, how I need you tonight more than you’ll ever know,” she sings.
Live Oak Adult Day Services has long incorporated music into daily activities for more than 300 dependent seniors by bringing in musicians or playing songs on a boombox at its four adult day care centers in Santa Clara County. But the group hopes to expand its music
program this year by providing clients with personalized playlists, if it can raise enough funds to purchase iPods, headphones, docking stations and iTunes gift cards.
“We notice that with music, the atmosphere in the room changes. People are smiling. They’re tapping their feet and mouthing the words, so it’s very stimulating — even if they don’t get up and dance,” said Colleen Hudgen, the nonprofit’s executive director.
Research also shows that listening to music can help improve the mood of people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, helping them tap into fond memories from their past, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
“Music is a great way to connect with people with dementia, especially in the later stages, when they’re less able to communicate. The part of the brain that responds to music is one of the last parts to be affected by Alzheimer’s disease,” said Pauline Martinez, the Alzheimer Association’s education services manager.
On a recent day at Live Oak Adult Day Services’ Willow Glen center, seniors held hands as they danced while others clapped along and tapped their feet to the 1920s jazz hit “The Charleston.”
Alean Robinson, 82, is especially fond of Chubby Checker’s version of “The Twist,” a pop hit in the early 1960s.
“I liked to do the twist at the cafe, which I called bars, in Tennessee. They have jukeboxes, and you could put on a tune you wanted to hear,” she said.
Family members were musicians, she said, including her husband, Sammy.
“My husband, who passed in 2006, used to play drums for B.B. King down on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. I married him after, and I used to laugh and tell him if he stayed with B.B. King, he wouldn’t have even looked at me,” Robinson said.
Cheryl Huguenor, program director at Live Oak’s Gilroy center, has seen firsthand how music can lift her clients’ spirits, reminding them of a time when they had to be strong as they watched their loved ones go off to fight during World War II, of days picking fruit in the fields — or even what it felt like to be young and in control.
But not everyone, she says, may relate to the same music.
“It needs to be individualized in some way so it reflects their culture and the time they were born,” she said.
Wish Book readers can help Live Oak Adult Day Services with its goal of providing a personalized music program for its clients. Live Oak, which hopes to raise $6,500, will use donations of any amount toward purchasing iPods, headphones, iPod docking stations and iTunes cards for downloading music at their four adult day care centers.
When Lee hears religious tunes such as “God Be With You Till We Meet Again,” it brings back memories of singing in the choir at First Baptist Church at 14th Avenue and Grant Street in Denver.
“I’m assuming it’s still there. Somebody told me one time that it was now a nightclub, and then they all busted out laughing. So I’m assuming they were just picking on me. They better be,” Lee said.
She will be happy to know that the church, and the religious music inside, still stands.