Our music therapy program at Ahava is thriving! A music a therapist from Playnotes visits us each week, bringing joy and connection through fun and therapeutic sessions. With her guitar, shaker eggs, colorful silk scarves, and occasionally other unique instruments, she creates an engaging experience for our residents. In addition to playing the crowd favorites, she takes special requests, encouraging residents to sing along, clap, or tap their feet to the rhythm.
We are so grateful to have a regular music therapist named Ryssa, who has been visiting Ahava for over a year and a half now. She knows each resident by name and remembers their favorite songs. Everyone looks forward to her visits, excited to hear her beautiful voice and guitar.
Music is such a special way for our residents to connect because the parts of the brain that process and remember music are often not as affected or are the last to be affected by Alzheimer’s and dementia. Therefore, even when other memories or forms of communication fade, familiar songs can be comforting.
For our residents who are in the later stages of dementia, music offers a meaningful way for us to reach them that other therapies may not. We are grateful to have this way of engaging and connecting with these residents and this opportunity to bring them joy each week.
During every therapy session, we see incredible transformations among our residents. They become more engaged, their eye contact improves, and their moods improve. But these benefits extend beyond the therapy session itself. After a session, we’ve observed that residents have better appetites, are more awake and alert, are more willing to interact with peers and staff, and even have improved sleep patterns at night.
This program has been a tremendous success, and we look forward to discovering even more ways music therapy can enrich our residents’ lives as we continue it this year.
-Nicole Morgan, PCHA, ALRA
Executive Director, AHAVA Memory Care Center of Excellence