Home finds music therapy, fishing game to be effective programming
Monday December 17, 2007 -- Deron Hamel
Music therapist Laura Breen says music is an important tool long-term care homes can use to engage residents with cognitive impairment in activities and help them reminisce.

“Everybody has had the music experience in their lives, and a lot of that is remembering music that they heard as kids or young adults,” she says. “I think it’s a universal way to catch people’s attention.”

As a music therapist, Breen makes regular visits to Afton Park Place in Sarnia to spend 30-minute, small group sessions with residents. Breen plays piano for residents and gets them involved in singalongs, as well as discussions about musical themes.

As part of her programming, Breen holds sessions for four groups. Two groups consist of residents with cognitive impairment and the other two groups are made up of residents who do not have cognitive impairment.

When Breen holds her sessions — which are typically made up of about six residents — she often sees a positive change in the demeanor of many residents with cognitive impairment.

While these changes are temporary, they’re nevertheless meaningful, she notes. And the more of these brief changes residents experience, the better it is for their quality of life.

Breen says she especially enjoys spending time with residents in the home’s Alzheimer wing. The residents remember the music and will sometimes dance or sing along.

Music also has the power to engage residents with cognitive impairment in discussions.

“It’s amazing how you can get them to start a very short conversation,” says Breen.

Vicki Di Giovanni, life enrichment manager at the Steeves & Rozema-owned long-term care home, says the music therapy program has been “great” for residents with cognitive impairment.

Di Giovanni says family members have given lots of positive feedback about the program.

“They’re quite surprised (at the results),” says Di Giovanni. “There’s something about music that sparks the memory of a resident with Alzheimer’s and dementia.”

Another activity at Afton Park Place which has been successful for residents with cognitive impairment is the fish program.

Started this past summer, the program features residents from the home’s Alzheimer unit gathering around small inflatable pool filled with water. A battery-operated fish with a mouth which opens and closes is placed in the water. The fish, which has a mouth equipped with a magnet, swims around in the pool.

Using a fishing pole with a metal hook at the end, residents try to pull the fish out of the water. The men, says Di Giovanni, enjoy the program and even those who don’t participate find some benefits in it.

“Even those that weren’t participating were really enthralled; they were sitting there watching. Their faces were lit up with big smiles — not a lot of the things you normally see in the Alzheimer unit,” she says.