Can music and art awaken the spirit of someone with dementia? Several hundred long-term care professionals learned it can at two workshops sponsored by AQAF and the Middle Alabama Area Agency on Aging.
Cognitive Connections: Awakening the Human Spirit through Innovations in Dementia Caregiving was held in Birmingham and Montgomery.
The featured speakers were Dr. Daniel Potts of Cognitive Dynamics, and Dan Cohen, executive director of Music & Memory. Music & Memory trains elder care professionals how to set up personalized music playlists, delivered on iPods and other digital devices, for those in their care. These musical favorites tap deep memories not lost to dementia and can bring residents and clients back to life, enabling them to feel like themselves again, to converse, socialize and stay present. To learn more visit www.musicandmemory.org.
Pictured from left to right are: Beth Greene, AQAF; Liz Prosch, AQAF; Dan Cohen, Music & Memory; Stephanie Davis, CMS; Randy Allen, Wesley Gardens Retirement Community; Carolyn Fortner, Middle Alabama Area Agency on Aging; Virginia Moore Bell, Alabama long-term care ombudsman; Alicia Lepke, Middle Alabama Area Agency on Aging; Rose Finkelstein, AQAF; John Matson, Alabama Nursing Home Association; Sondra Rothwell, CMS; Holly Mason, Middle Alabama Area Agency on Aging; Adriane Saunder, CMS and Phyllis King, CMS
AQAF provides health care quality improvement services to clients in the public and private sectors. Through a contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, AQAF serves as Alabama’s Medicare Quality Improvement Organization. For more information visit www.aqaf.com.
