Alive Inside Video

As dementia continues to affect millions of elderly Americans, Alive Inside: A Story of Music & Memory reveals a remarkable, music-based breakthrough that has already transformed lives. Spearheaded by social worker Dan Cohen and captured on camera over the course of three years by filmmaker Michael Rossato-Bennett, we learn that songs from a patient’s past can awaken memories and emotions that have been asleep for years, sometimes decades.

 

Within a moment of hearing “I Get Around” by the Beach Boys, Alzheimer’s patient Marylou jolts back to life, dancing around the living room and expressing a euphoria her husband hasn’t witnessed since her illness took effect. Countless instances in Alive Inside provide proof that music stimulates activity in dementia-affected parts of the brain and transforms the quality of life of those often left to languish in silence.

 

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Aging in America: Crisis in long-term care

There are currently about 40 million Americans over the age of 65, and those over 80 are the fastest-growing segment of our population. Rita Braver reports on a group of seniors who have banded together and found a way to make their golden years not just affordable, but truly “golden.”

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The Amelia Project – How are you Aging?

In America, at least 60 million people will turn 65 by the year 2020.  Why is this important?  As of 2015, about 34.2 million Americans provided UNPAID care to an adult age 50 or older. [National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. (2015)]   If 34.2 million provided care in 2015, and more people are aging each year, how many adults will need to care for another  adult over 50 years of age by the year 2020.

The world is getting older AND living longer in that “older” state.  Have we as a nation placed “appropriate” focus on how our Aging would “Age”?  Many are aging with multiple disease conditions, left to the attendance of working adult children with their own families.  Within that same group of “aging” adults, many are stricken with dementia or Alzheimer’s leaving it impossible for the adult children to continue their careers as planned.

How are our elders “aging”…they are aging without the benefits promised to them and the resources needed!  How are they aging…they are aging on 5-10 different medications of which at least one is an anti-psychotic!  How are they aging…they are aging in this nation in which they once stimulated the economy for their children and their children’s children, as “INVISIBLE”!

As a voice crying out for our “aging elders”, Mr. President, Mr. Governor, Mr. Mayor, please remember your biblical duty to care for those that have “grayed”; our patriarchs and matriarchs of this nation!!!