A message from ‘Music for Dementia’
“We hope that you are keeping safe and well in these difficult and unusual circumstances in which we all find ourselves. We were last in touch when we postponed the launch of the Musical Care Care Pledge (scheduled to take place on 20th March), due to the acceleration of the Covid-19 crisis and the necessary lockdown and social distancing.
Although these are starting to ease we are very aware that the situation is still acute in adult social care. The people who live and work in that sector are facing many more months of restrictions and isolation.
We have been so impressed by the stories of commitment, dedication, hard work and resilience that we hear from the sector. Our support and thoughts are with those at the frontline in this. We hope that this crisis will raise the status of those who work in ASC, highlighting their skills, dedication and value.
Continuing the MCT work
We wanted to let you know that we are still here. We are continuing to meet as a Core Group, albeit remotely, and we have not let go of the aims and ambitions of the MCT. We believe that music plays an important and essential role in how we all navigate and manage the crisis.
It seems that many more people are discovering that music has a role in communicating, connecting, self-expression, and regulating, expressing and reflecting mood and emotions.
We are still working on things that were already on our agenda including guidance on music and CQC quality assessments, musical care competencies and gathering resources to support the workforce in musical care practice. We will work across the rest of the year to make these ready and available. We are reconsidering how and if we proceed with the Pledge; how it can meet needs and support the caring and living dementia experiences in the present situation.
Helping you
The many amazing stories of resilience and creativity in the care sector are an inspiration, showing how daily quality life continues, often including music.
As part of our new Live Music at Home programme, LMN have created some guidance for musicians working remotely to reach care settings for older people during the Covid Crisis as well as a new online video library of pre-recorded concerts with guidance for care homes on how to get the best out them.
- LMN Musicians’ Guidelines for Pre-recorded Care Home Sessions
- LMN Musicians’ Guidelines for Online Interactive Care Home Sessions
- LMN Video library of live music for care homes
- LMN Case Study giving tips on how to run interactive live music sessions in care homes over Zoom
Also, there is a survey being conducted by the Sidney de Haan Centre on singing for health during lockdown which LMN are partnering on and we would encourage those who can contribute to do so.
Survey on Singing for Health during Lockdown being conducted by Sidney De Haan Centre
Musical Guide has created a Musical Guide for people with dementia and their carers to make the most of music during COVID-19, Please feel free to use this and share it far and wide to support people in keeping the music going.
We also wanted to ask if there anything else you need from us, as our pre-crisis activity programme was developed collaboratively with you. Maybe your musical care needs remain the same, but perhaps they are quite different from before.
Please let us know how we can help.
We look forward to hearing from you and to working with you in the coming months.
Grace Meadows & Douglas Noble”
For further information see https://musicfordementia.org.uk/
