Seniors in homes need more music
On June 5, B.C. Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie gave a presentation at Penticton’s Okanagan College campus as part of Seniors' Week 2022.
For those who reside in full-care facilities, I think it should be mandatory to include the following two questions on the intake form that the resident’s designated family member fills out:
1. What are/were some of your family member’s favourite songs and types of music?
2. Will you be providing a music system? e.g. CD player & CDs, radio, iPod loaded with favourite songs and earbuds, etc.
I think it would be wonderful if CBC Radio produced a one-hour daily music program tailored to seniors in their 70s and up who are unable to play their own music.
Perhaps someone like singersongwriter Jann Arden would be interested in hosting it; her father had dementia, and her mother had Alzheimer's. Or perhaps CBC producers could choose seven hosts, with each person hosting one episode per week.
In the 2014 documentary Alive Inside, filmmaker Michael Rossato-Bennett chronicled the experiences of seniors who have been revitalized through the simple experience of listening to music. The full documentary can be viewed on YouTube.
In the documentary, Dr. Bill Thomas, gerontologist, was asked why all residents don't have their own personal music. He replied: “What we’re spending on drugs that mostly don’t work, dwarfs what it would take to deliver personal music to every nursing home resident in America … In today’s really crazy system, I can sit down and write out a prescription for a thousand dollar a month antidepressant, no problem. Nobody asks any questions.
“If I want to provide a person with a $40 personal music system, that will take a lot of work, because personal music doesn't count as a medical intervention.
“The real business, trust me, is in the pill bottle … We haven’t done anything, medically speaking, to touch the heart and soul of a patient."
Many care homes have a sound system and/or CD players.
An ideal time to play music to all residents would be during the dinner hour. Play a variety of songs.
Care homes are wasting a golden opportunity to help their residents in this regard. It’s not uncommon for residents who have few to no visitors to be left alone for large parts of the day, with no one to engage them in conversation, or play them music.
In 2017, I learned of a Kelowna care home that offered every resident the use of an iPod and earbuds, funded by a benefactor. For family members who wished to participate, they were required to download a playlist for the resident.