After watching the documentary “Alive Inside,” Victoria Reyna, then president of the Sigma Alpha Iota music fraternity at UTSA, said her members were inspired.
“Of course, we were all in tears and just decided we have to do something about this and bring it to our community,” Reyna said.
She said they spent weeks raising the needed funds to buy iPods, like those in the film, so that Alzheimer’s and dementia patients could feel the power that music has on memory.
Morningside Ministries memory care facility at Menger Springs was the first in the San Antonio area to accept the new iPods.
Suzanne Huber, its executive director, said often those patients are bored and anxious, but rather than use medication if needed, music has a calming effect.
“It brings them back into that time of their life,” Huber said. “They can remember the music. It’s so ingrained in their brains and I think they’re able to remember more. I think their recall is better. They’re happier.”
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Morningside Ministries memory care patients mix music and memory