Music therapy helping Alzheimer’s patients

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By: Lauren LeaSAN ANTONIO – It’s been said that music can heal your soul, but what about healing your mind? Using music as therapy for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients is gaining popularity across the nation and it’s growing here in San Antonio.What we often hear is she used to love music or she used to listen all the time but the truth is, they no longer have the ability to turn the radio on, Candyce Slusher said. You never stop loving music.Slusher is trying to bring music therapy to people in assisted living homes and people still living in their homes.You find it opens up this area of their brain that they haven’t been using in years. It’s tremendous. It’s powerful, she said. I’ve seen what it can do for people normally trapped inside their own bodies and they see a way out through music.Carol Ann Ghanbar has been using music therapy at her assisted living home, Carol Ann’s Home, for the past six years.It just makes them feel good. Even the ones that can’t speak, you can just see it in their eyes. You can see the joy that the song or the time they’re remembering brings to them, Ghanbar explained.Slusher is with Caring Companions and Music and Memory, which has partnered with the Alzheimer’s Association. The Walk to End Alzheimer’s is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 21st at the ATT Center. The opening ceremony kicks off at 8:30 a.m. You can find out more information by clicking here.Slusher will be collecting gently used or new iPods and monetary donations at the Walk to End Alzheimer’s to bring music to patients across San Antonio. She says a personalized playlist can help a patient relieve memories that otherwise might be forgotten. You can find out more about the Music Memory program by clicking here.

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