Therapeutic benefits of music were first noted after World War I and World War II when musicians began singing and playing at hospitals for war veterans with physical and emotional trauma. Just as back then, people today still enjoy music, but can it actually make the mind “move”? According to Kimmo Lehtonen, PhD, professor of education at the University of Turku (Finland), it can.

Dr. Lehtonen has been a clinical music therapist for more than 25 years. “Music therapy has many faces,” says Lehtonen. “With older adults, I mainly use old wartime songs, which seem to bring many lively memories to their minds. Music has a close relationship with unconscious emotions, which are activated by musical movement. To me, music represents a microcosmos which has a close relationship to our inner feelings. These feelings are so strong; they’re meaningful even if patients cannot remember who they are.”

Music can be used in more ways than promoting or improving memory; it has also been proven to assist in promoting wellness, stress management, pain alleviation, expressing feelings, improving communication and to promote physical rehabilitation.

Make an effort to encourage the use of music in everything you do, after all, it is the only language that binds all of us through the gift of rhythm and melody.

We all know that with cognitive and memory impairments it can change how a person thinks, acts, responds and/or feels. These changes often present special challenges for families and caregivers, especially in a social environment. An ordinary conversation, for example, can be quite frustrating when the person you are talking to has difficulty remembering from one moment to the next about what has been said. Individuals with cognitive impairment may also experience a range of behavioral issues which may include communication difficulties, repetition of an idea or an activity, wondering, lack of motivation, or often time aggressive or impulsive behaviors.

So where do you start when approaching to overcome the difficulties of including them in group or social settings?

Here are a few suggestions that may help you:

1. Due to the possibility of them needing more assistance than others in group activities, take the time to learn more about your residents as individuals and their personal likes and interest. By doing this you will be able to form better judgment on programs they are more likely to enjoy and what would be most appropriate for them. Engage family members in this portion by finding out more about there past and some experiences they may have had throughout their lives.

2. Be sure to educate yourself on dementia and Alzheimer’s. Information is empowering!!

3. Try breaking down tasks and question. For Example, instead of asking “Would you like to come to our art program down the hall and paint a picture? I can show you wear it is!” Use simple phrases and questions such as, “Come with me; let’s go paint.”

4. Be in tune with their feelings. If they are sad or angry, show them that you are listening, whether you understand or not. By doing this you can create a bond of trust that will enable you to encourage them to participate in a productive program that would ensure a better quality of life.

5. Last, use your resources. Encourage family members, volunteers, or even residents with higher levels of cognition to assist them or even just hold their hand in group settings.

Just remember, before you can begin any of this be sure to lay a foundation of your knowledge of the resident along with their diagnosis. Begin by creating a personalized careplan on goals that you would like to see them achieve in these social settings, then finally the approaches you are going to take to do so.

In this role, Kristin will be responsible for handling corporate accounts, direct and indirect marketing strategy, and will implement sales processes to scale with Linked Senior’s accelerating customer acquisition. She will bring her perspective and experience in introducing disruptive innovation and the challenges of technology adoption in the senior housing market.

“My interest in taking this role is the opportunity to improve the lives of Long Term Care and Assisted living residents with innovative technology. I am excited to bring a new level of fun and engaging tools to assist activities directors. In this position, I’ll now have a greater opportunity to improve brain health and resident satisfaction in the communities Linked Senior will serve” states Ms. Petersen.

According to Charles De Vilmorin, Linked Senior CEO, “There aren’t many professionals in the senior housing industry that can match Kristin’s experience and track record. Beyond her exceptional understanding of ROI driven sales and strong relationship building capabilities, Kristin will be instrumental in growing Linked Senior and maintain its position as a leader in supporting wellness and technology in the senior housing market.”

Kristin brings to Linked Senior over 20 years of industry experience in launching new products and quality improvement processes to benefit the longterm care market segment.   She spent over 11 years with Novartis Medical Nutrition where she served as a National Account Executive.  Kristin was responsible for launching a continuum of care program to support the home care market segment. At Kronos Talent Management, as a Vice President of Client Partnerships, Kristin assisted in the vertical market launch of a talent acquisition program designed specifically for the long term care market.  At BGS Pharmacy Partners,  Ms. Petersen was part of the management team involved in pharmacy due diligence, acquisition, operations and managed sales for 6 regional long-term care pharmacies.

Headquartered in Washington DC, Linked Senior Inc. is one of the leading providers of technology solutions for wellness and programming for the senior housing market.  Its vision is to enhance the quality of life in senior communities through better access to information, entertainment, education, and therapy.  The service opens communities to the world while helping management improve their programming, productivity and efficiencies.

Linked Senior uses simple technology to support wellness in a social, interactive, meaningful and engaging way. The system includes a touch screen and content tailored for seniors. Some of the features included are games, puzzles, visual experiences for reminiscence, brain fitness, educational and therapy tools. More information can be found here: www.linkedsenior.com.

British researchers examined data from 15 studies with 718 people, all of whom had been diagnosed with dementia with categories that included Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia or mixed Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia. These people were then introduced to structured activities and group activities that included playing show-and-tell with various objects, baking, drawing and other types of games. All of these activities provided general stimulation for thinking, concentration and memory, all which were conducted in a social setting such as a small group. Each of these sessions were then hosted five times a week and lasted between 30 to 90 minutes.

According to their analysis, structured group activities that are designed to stimulate cognition have shown to be effective. They have indicated that positive changes in communication and social interaction were evident along with improvements of mental functions with participants who suffered mild to moderate dementia. The most striking findings of all were the effects of cognitive stimulation and the overall performance on tests related to cognitive function.

The overall results stated that these programs have been shown to slow down the rate of decline in mild to moderate cases, and identified a benefit on quality of life and well-being that were all associated with cognitive stimulation.  All of these findings were related to an assessment that was completed immediately after the treatment period that evaluated their mental functioning.

“This is showing the people who work in memory care communities and nursing homes and assisted living facilities that they can improve cognitive function, and they need to be providing these kinds of interventions,” neuroscientist Robert Winningham, Ph.D., told Reuters.

The previous information was found in a study that was published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

When it comes to retirement communities, performance is usually understood as the  experience felt by the customer, the resident.  There is a great deal of value in a consistent experience across all levels of care at all locations – but consistency is one of the greatest multi-site operational challenges.

The value of consistency is endless, from meeting regulations to projecting a uniform image, lower staff turnover and higher numbers of referrals.  Inconsistency brings with it higher costs, as the lesser performing staff members need monitoring and mentoring and it can be bad for the brand.  Consistency is a common trait that most successful organizations share.

How does one ensure the greatest consistency in wellness and activities and the best resident experience?

In other words, how does one make sure that all resident experiences are consistent no matter their background, physical & cognitive levels, level of care or from one community to another?  Although the challenge seems impossible, one of the outcomes is also the best reward: fairness to dependent people.

Here are 3 simple steps to ensuring consistency in resident experience:

1. Consistent Assignment:

Consistent assignment means that residents see the same staff members almost at the same time of the day. Studies have confirmed that residents and their family members value the relationships they have with the front-line caregivers more than the quality of the medical care and the quality of the food in a community.  Also, providing residents with the same experience provides more individualized care, which leads to better clinical outcomes and quality of life.  According to the California Healthcare Foundation (CHCF) the values of such process make it worth looking into:

• Residents receive better care
• Improved job satisfaction
• Staff feels valued
• Staff feels empowered
• Strong foundations for person-centered care
• More familiarity with residents’ needs and desire
• Fewer call outs

2. Same training & mentoring:

Make sure activity, programming and wellness staff receive the same training and understand the fact that they are assessed with the same tools.  This will ensure the distribution of best practices and motivate people to share amongst their counterparts.  Some companies have had great results with mentoring, allowing developmental relationships among their activity directors through which one shares knowledge, skills, information and perspective to foster the professional growth of another one.

3. Same set of tools and allow for sharing of creativity

The best activity programs are ones that offer good quality options around the calendar, that allow for person centered experiences and that are often refreshed.  This is difficult to achieve as the activity staff must be knowledgeable in all topics and always be creative. Here is how this can be achieved:

• Activity directors should be provided with equipment and materials that allow them to meet a certain level of quality.
• Processes should be in place where they can share their greatest ideas. Not all activity directors are creative.  This problem can be solved through the sharing of information.

You can now save the date and start planning today: September 9 – 15, 2012

Look for the 2012 logo in late January HERE!

NCAL established National Assisted Living Week® (NALW) in 1995 as a way to promote assisted living to the public. It provides a unique opportunity for residents, families, staff, volunteers, and the surrounding community to come together to celebrate and enjoy a variety of events that show the residents how much we care for and love them. Every year, numerous local newspapers and television stations cover NALW activities. NCAL identifies the theme and then produces a planning and product guide, a line of products with this year’s logo, and sample materials for the media.

Mr Mutka will help the Linked Senior management team in the development of their sales and marketing strategy for the next 3-5 years, contribute his thinking to streamline operations and bring his perspective and experience in introducing disruptive innovation and the challenges of technology adoption in the senior housing market.

“Linked Senior is a visionary company. They have an exciting product uniquely positioned to positively impact Senior Care. As an Advisory Board member, I look forward to helping them aggressively expand their presence nationally”, states Mike Mutka.

According to Charles De Vilmorin, Linked Senior CEO, “Beyond the pleasure of working with Mike, having him advise our team gives us great confidence in the future of an already very successful product. Mike’s devotion to excellence, customer experience and strategic thinking will play a major role in guiding and mentoring the development of Linked Senior.”

Mike Mutka has been President of Silverchair Learning Systems (SLS) since January 2009. He built the SLS sales and marketing organization from just two people in 2005 to a team of 20+ professionals, with an impressive track record of growth that includes over 8000 buildings and 500,000 users, taking more than 7 million courses a year nationwide. Prior to joining SLS in 2005, Mr. Mutka had a 15 year track record of success within the Hill-Rom Company, Berchtold Corporation, and Briggs Corporation,all leaders in their market spaces. He has extensive experience in new product development, field and corporate account sales and marketing management, strategic planning, Kaizen continuous improvement methodology and general management. He earned his Bachelors in Business and an MBA in Marketing from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

Headquartered in Washington DC, Linked Senior Inc. is one of the leading providers of technology solutions for wellness and programming for the senior housing market.  Its vision is to enhance the quality of life in senior communities through better access to information, entertainment, education, and therapy.  The service opens communities to the world while helping management improve their programming, productivity and efficiencies.

Linked Senior uses simple technology to support wellness in a social, interactive, meaningful and engaging way. The system includes a touch screen and content tailored for seniors. Some of the features included are games, puzzles, visual experiences for reminiscence, brain fitness, educational and therapy tools. More information can be found here: www.linkedsenior.com.

It’s this a great argument for considering retirement communities for our loved ones? And for retirement community to work on the social dimension of Wellness?

Researchers found that the feeling of emotional wellbeing rises sharply after age 60, but this increase is not a result of retirement. Both those 60 and older working full time, at 61 percent, and those out of the workforce, at 63 percent, reported similar levels of happiness.

The perception of happiness was affected by the amount of social interaction. About 72 percent of participants aged 65 and older who reported engaging in social activity six hours a day described a high level of enjoyment and happiness. Only 44 percent of those 65 and older who reported zero hours of social time described the same emotional wellbeing.

The rest of the poll and more interesting information can be found here:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/151457/Seniors-Maintain-Happiness-Highs-Less-Social-Time.aspx

Heidi and the rest of our team here, at Linked Senior would like to extend our warmest Holidays greeting to you and your loved ones!!

But can one still make resolutions when one is over forty? I live according to twenty-year-old habits. ~Andre Gide

May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions. ~Joey Adams

People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas. ~Anonymous

According to the Public Library of Science Medicine, loneliness, as a health risk factor, is twice as detrimental as being obese, and equal to the risk of smoking cigarettes and alcoholism. Less frequent participation in social activities is associated with a more rapid rate of motor decline in old age.[2] And, according to the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, over an average of five years, seniors who were the most socially active experienced only one-fourth the rate of cognitive decline compared to those with the lowest levels of social activity.

All the more reasons to understand the value of activity directors!!