Pine Valley has been selected to be a part of an exciting project called the Music and Memory Initiative. In the most comprehensive effort to date to bring personalized music into skilled nursing facilities, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) has launched a program to fund Music & Memory certification training for 100 nursing homes throughout the state.
The Music and Memory Initiative is a program where nursing home residents listen to personalized music playlists, created with input from the residents themselves as well as family, friends, and nursing home staff. These playlists are loaded onto iPods so residents can connect with music they love, improving their overall health and well-being. Grounded in extensive neuroscience research about how our brains respond to music, remarkable changes have been seen in nursing home residents participating in Music and Memory projects. Personalized music offers enjoyable, fulfilling activities, gives pleasure to residents with dementia, as well as reducing resistance to care and other behaviors that challenge residents and their caregivers.
So how can you help?
- Donate your unused iPods and chargers.
- Donate iTunes Cards – in any amount.
(These items can be dropped of at Pine Valley or mailed to us at 25951 Circle View Lane, Richland Center, WI 53581 – Attn: Music and Memory) - Donate your time. If you are computer savy, you can assist us in the building our residents personalized music libraries. For more information, call and ask to speak to Mallory Winchell.
If you wish to learn more about this project and watch some inspiring and heartwarming videos on the programs successes, go to http://www.musicandmemory.org.
