“Music has power – especially for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.” (AFA Website 2016). Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible neurodegenerative condition (that deteriorates significantly over time) of a patient’s memory and daily bodily functions. Since humans are living longer and our older population is increasingly getting larger there are more and more people suffering from Alzheimer’s than ever before. There are currently over 5.4 million Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s (typically begins after age 65, but can show up as early as age 40) and most people know someone or have a loved one affected by this horrible disease. Music therapy may offer hope for a better quality of life for patients and families
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Alzheimer’s patients in any stage of the disease can benefit from music stimulation from any form to help pull them out of the darkness of dementia and help them be more aware, essentially bring them back to life again. The sad pitfall that the documentary “Alive Again” did bring up is that this therapy is not readily available to most nursing homes and is not a commonly used approach due to technology constraints and costs for most facilities that is not reimbursed by most medical plans. Also, the therapy and steps stated the AFA website about music therapy are intended to be administered by family, loved ones and caregivers. The sad fact is that there are many elderly patients that do not have continuous daily support by family or loved ones. Music therapy has been around for more than 25 years and my hope for the future is that this continues to gain momentum and becomes a system wide (in all health care facilities) therapy and first course of action when someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s/dementia along with any drug therapy is used or
Alzheimer’s patients in any stage of the disease can benefit from music stimulation from any form to help pull them out of the darkness of dementia and help them be more aware, essentially bring them back to life again. The sad pitfall that the documentary “Alive Again” did bring up is that this therapy is not readily available to most nursing homes and is not a commonly used approach due to technology constraints and costs for most facilities that is not reimbursed by most medical plans. Also, the therapy and steps stated the AFA website about music therapy are intended to be administered by family, loved ones and caregivers. The sad fact is that there are many elderly patients that do not have continuous daily support by family or loved ones. Music therapy has been around for more than 25 years and my hope for the future is that this continues to gain momentum and becomes a system wide (in all health care facilities) therapy and first course of action when someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s/dementia along with any drug therapy is used or