One had to look closely, but the white sneaker definitely tapped the floor.
Slightly, softly, steadily. Like a heartbeat.
"What does the music remind you of, Marsha?: the caregiver at Villa Ventura in south Kansas City asked loud enough to be heard above the headphones.
The woman looked up, a bit puzzled at first, then: "Being alive."
Medical researchers haven't seemed to do a lot for Alzheimer's patients.
Maybe Perry Como can help.
Or Patsy Cline. Or even Mozart.
Institutions across the country increasingly are using music to try to tap into areas of the brain buried by dementia. Alzheimer’s is degenerative. But some experts think old songs can slow the progress by stirring up lost memories and possibly even restore some cognitive function.
Concetta Tomaino, executive director of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function at New York’s Beth Abraham Family of Health Services, said patients with mid- or late-term dementia scored higher on cognitive-function tests after 10 months of music therapy.
Read the complete story at kansascity.com