More about relationship based care for people with Alzheimer's disease.
We have long seen that music therapy and art therapy have an almost magical quality of drawing out elders who suffer with cognitive impairment. The aura effect for care givers seeing people become more alert, smile and sing along or express joy at finishing a watercolor goes far beyond the few hours of therapy we are able to provide. The problem is that while medicare will pay for elders to take multiple sedating or behavior control medications, no insurance we have ever encountered will pay for the lifestyle enhancements that can reduce or eliminate the need for these medications.
Now the University of Milwaukee has launched a study of this phenomenon based on the work of Music and Memory a national music therapy provider. (The Oregonian October 27, 2014, Page D7)
Here's hoping that this study is able to documents what care givers, case managers, therapists and families have long observed; that cognitively enhancing therapies dramatically increase the quality of life and lower the need for medications for elders who are living in confined circumstances because of safety needs.
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