Bring Joy & Memory Back to Alzheimer's Patients as a Music & Memory Volunteer

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Use your passion for music to create personalized music playlists for patients with dementia! Study the impact personalized music has on people living with cognitive and physical challenges.
As a Music & Memory certified care organization, we provide training and certification through musicandmemory.org. Through this partnership, volunteers have access to unlimited training, resources, volunteer support, and peer discussion. Music has been shown to activate parts of the brain in dementia patients that were long dormant, allowing a patient to connect with memories and emotions from their past that may have been lost to them. It's a powerful tool to calm an agitated patient, bring some happiness, and create a playlist that families can use to connect with their loved-one.

This would be an EXCELLENT opportunity for prospective music therapists or students that want to study first-hand the effects of music on the brain and core memories as well as gain experience in the field! It's also available to any volunteer who may just love music and want to find a way to help patients in hospice.

How can volunteers help?

• Interview families to identify musical favorites for their loved ones with dementia
• Create personalized music playlists

If a volunteer wants to dig deeper and have direct patient experience, they could expand this opportunity to:

• Spend time with individuals while they enjoy their music
• Evaluate behaviors before, during, and after patient listens to personalized music and adjust playlists as needed

This opportunity can take place in the community nursing homes or home settings depending on volunteer preference. We provide care to patients in seven counties in MetroEast Illinois and 4 counties in Metro St.Louis area, therefore our staff and volunteers service the areas in which they live. We welcome questions about this position! Let's talk about what meets your needs and has an impact on the people who need your time and talents.