Through a valuable state internship, Casey Stradley, a University of Delaware human services major with a concentration in clinical services, helped to introduce the Music and Memory program to nursing homes in Delaware. The program uses power of music to improve the quality of life for patients with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

“This internship has given me an incredible opportunity to return a sense of dignity to many individuals who are trapped within their minds,” Stradley, who graduated in 2016, said. “Knowing I have the ability to impact someone’s life is truly an amazing feeling that I am grateful for.”

Stradley began her internship at the Division of Long Term Care Residents Protection in the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services in the fall of 2016. A few days in, she learned about the Music and Memory program founded by Dan Cohen. Intrigued, she conducted different teleconferences to find out how it had been implemented in other states.

Working closely with her supervisor Renee Purzycki, the social service chief administrator with the division, Stradley determined the benefits, costs and procedures necessary to bring this program into Delaware nursing homes.

She then played an active role in obtaining a $30,000 grant to implement the program in 10 nursing homes across the state. These nursing homes had expressed interest in the program during the annual trade show held at Dover Downs in late September 2016.

“Our ultimate goal is to impact the residents’ lives by making them more engaged with family members, friends, and the staff. Participants will now include the residents with dementia, who had been reluctant to take part in group recreational activities,” said Stradley.

Research has shown that residents who listen to music before daily tasks such as eating and bathing become less resistant and are much calmer throughout the day. Additionally, there has been confirmed research that listening to music regularly has resulted in a major drop in the use of anti-psychotic drugs.

The grant money was used to provide iPod, speakers, headphones, chargers and iTunes gift card to the nursing homes, with the first one put in place this month. The staff will be trained through four live webinars to become certified in running the Music and Memory program.

“We download the songs that are needed for each individual resident’s playlist so that they can really benefit from the experience,” said Stradley. “There was one particular woman who had not said her daughter’s name in two years. But shortly after listening to her music she began saying her daughter’s name again. Now this may seem like a small success to some, but to the family this was a major triumph.”

The 2016 UD graduate has now been appointed as project coordinator and is the main point of contact for the program. She plans to submit another grant proposal in March to implement Music and Memory in the remaining nursing homes across the state.

“Through this experience I have learned how to apply my knowledge from the University of Delaware classrooms to real life situations,” she said. “My internship has shown me that it is not about the credit and recognition you receive, but the feeling of being able to make a difference in someone’s life that gives enough drive to keep pushing forward as a human service worker.”