music in the nsg home

Sounds like they had a great time!

Hey, just think........in a few years, the nursing homes are gonna be rockin' out to the sounds of the Stones, the Grateful Dead, and Aerosmith!

Rock and roll grannies. LOL

If I worked in a nursing home, I would make this one of my projects! I would work on having music where the clients could listen to music whenever they want too. Classical days, rock N roll days, jazz days, etc. Sounds like a super great idea that would help lift up those peoples spirits

that's awsome! you should get a Wii for them to try-- bowling, golf, etc.

Yup, at my old job one of the CNAs had a portable plug and play karoke set up she would bring to work with her every day. She would hook it up to the big screen tv in the dining room. The patients/residents had more fun with that than anything rec dreamed up.

Heartwarming story alert: We have an old Russian woman, very sick after a life of chain smoking, already lost here right leg, has a colostomy, no family visits, suffers from chronic pain (gets Durogesic and Percocet) is still alert and somewhat oriented (depending on the day) and won't participate in any rec activities, won't accept volunteers. A persistent volunteer bought here a CD Discman and headphones, went to a store that sold Russian discs, and bought her music from her childhood. This music lights up her life, she smiles from ear to ear when she listens, (we hadn;t seen her smile in such a long time, we forgot she has one tooth left)
Music is the food for the soul

We had a resident who was admitted on many psych meds and anxiolytics. He was a mess. If anyone approached him, he'd take a swing. He was also head injured and didn't like anyone touching his head. He was almost 6'3...a danger if he decided he was going to go for a walk since his balance was horrible. One day when he was in a 'good' mood, I heard him singing very softly. He was singing Amazing Grace. The next day he was on a tear...it took 3 of us to walk him. Someone ran to get some Ativan...wait I said...If you give him Ativan he's going to fall. So I started singing Amazing Grace. For the first time since he'd been admitted, he made eye contact with me and said Boy,honey, you sure can sing! So we sat him down and the two of us sang old hymns together. It was the turning point for him. Anytime he got the least bit agitated,instead of giving him drugs, someone would start singing and he'd stop what ever he was doing and sing along. I wrote it in his care plan as an intervention.