With more than 5 million people in nursing homes in our country and over 10 million people caring for them, wouldn’t it be next to a miracle if those with dementia and Alzheimer’s were given a way to enjoy life again? Actually, there is. It’s a simple and proven concept: when listless, uncommunicative and depressed people are given digital music devices (similar to an Ipod) to listen to music that they have loved in their life, they literally come alive. They become animated. Their eyes sparkle. They smile, sing and dance. They are able to remember things.
This is what Music & Memory is all about. This incredible organization is single-handedly changing the world. What started with founder and executive director Dan Cohen working with residents in nursing homes has crescendoed into a movement worldwide.
Dan and his team brought the emotional and moving Sundance Film Festival hit movie Alive Inside: A Story of Music & Memory to a screening at Denver’s Sie Film Center on Monday. Guests got to watch the transformation of patients who could literally do nothing but stare at the floor into smiling, singing, happy people who remember even things from their childhood, and certainly the happy times in their lives. All by putting a pair of earphones on and playing a list of songs they have loved in their life.
Dan and his team have tirelessly pounded the pavement all over the country to convince nursing homes and home care administrators to give this gift of life to their residents. It’s not easy. Doctors in the film say that they can prescribe thousands of dollars for bandaid medications, but medical plans do not cover, nor do they recognize, music as a catalyst for happiness. Film clips of transformations of elderly people have gone viral and this has helped awareness and advocacy.
You can learn more about this miracle. Log on to www.musicandmemory.org for tons of information about the program and research about how music literally lights up the brain. Oh, and it’s a good idea to create your own playlist. You never know when you’ll need it.
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- Marta Burton (Balfour), left, Kelli Klein (development associate with M & M) and Michele Mosko (director of major gifts, M&M)
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- Music & Memory Executive Director and founder Dan Cohen and his wife Diane
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- Brenda Labier, left, Michele Mosko and Judy Bershof (Michele and Judy have been friends since they were 12)
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- Wendy Tripp, left, and Holly Tripp chatting with Dan Cohen
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- Lori McCain, left, Jon Stull and Letitia Rogers, M & M regional director
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- Holly Tripp, author of “Stories of Music.” She gave a portion of her proceeds to M & M.
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- Karen and Mike Ballard
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- Susan Hanson of Colorado Health Care Assn., left, chats with Letitia Rogers
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- Jan and Gary Friedland
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- Linda Ward, left, and Betsy Stephens
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- Judith Cassel-Mamet, left, Margot Levy and Cherie Karo Schwartz
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- People send heartfelt thanks to M & M on a consistent basis.
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- Laurie Seymour and Roy Cohen
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- Antony Bruno of reception sponsor Royalty Exchange talks with Michele Mosko
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- Dan Cohen, left, and Antony Bruno
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- Susan Alt Johnson, left, and Corinne Mosko Brown
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- Wendy Tripp chats with Sara Wellborn
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- Madeline Drohan, left, talks with Holly Tripp about Holly’s books
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- Michael Thornton and Donna Altieri
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- Holly Parker, left, Jess Craig and DeDe Burns
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- Don Sutton and Liz Segalla
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- Antony Bruno and Letitia Rogers
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- Essie Perlmutter, left, Vicki Dansky, Nathan Bartell, Carla Bartell, Danny Bartell
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- Letitia Rogers, left, and her cousin Dona Woods–they haven’t seen each other in about 32 years.
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- Corinne Mosko Brown chats with Lanny DeVuono
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- Maureen McDonald, left, and Nona Yakes
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- Moira Mackay and Ilan Brown
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- Maureen McDonald, left, and Marta Burton
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- Letitia Rogers, left, Jan and Gary Friedland and Susan Hanson
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- Natalie Parker, left, and Dana Digange
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- Friends chatted about what they put on their nametag as “favorite song”
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- Gail Adams, left, chats with Madeline Drohan
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- Michael Thornton and Donna Altieri chat with Jon Stull
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- Annie Sale, left, and Judy Bershof
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- Diane Cohen chats with Randall Redfield
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- Susan Alt Johnson chats with Barton Lilly
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- A friendly discussion
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- Dan Cohen chats with guests
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- Kelli Klein, left, Michele Mosko, Dan Cohen and Letitia Rogers
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- Letitia Rogers, left, Marta Burton, Kelli Klein, Michele Mosko, Dan and Diane Cohen
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- Letitia Rogers, left, Robin Lombardo, Kelli Klein, Holly Tripp, Michele Mosko, Dan and Diane Cohen
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- Guests gather in the theatre before the movie “Alive Inside”
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- Regional directors Letitia Rogers, left, and Robin Lombardo, with Dan Cohen, answering questions from the audience after the film
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- Erin Spring talks about music therapy
