A community of caring

Winnemuccans have proven themselves again as loving and enthusiastic residents of our community by attending the showing of the independent documentary Alive Inside about music and memory and participating in the UP & AATT 'EM - Alzheimer's Awareness Turkey Trot.

Alive Inside follows the investigations of Dan Cohen for three years. Cohen is convinced - and he's determined to convince the rest of us - that music has a secret power that pulls us back to our past and our deepest memories. He visits individuals in homes and in residential communities, chats with them and their families about favorite tunes of the past, and then provides iPods and headsets with music downloads. Quiet, withdrawn, lonely, confused, agitated, depressed, bi-polar, or those with dementia - regardless of the diagnosis, when special, self-selected music is played, each listener came to life. Some began sharing their past, others danced, and even the bed-ridden exemplified their interest with twitches from an otherwise motionless body.

Cohen hypothesizes that our first music comes to us in the womb through our mother's voice. Researchers have found that a baby's cry mimics the tones and rhythm of his mother's. This would be an interesting study - comparing mom's lilts to baby's whimpers and sobs. When my daughter was little she had a karaoke machine that also recorded her rendition of songs. She would sing and then her brothers each took turns. Although the three of them sound very different in conversation, we discovered that when we slowed the speed, Allison's voice replicated that of TW and Stan. This makes me believe that recording mother and child would have the same results. It would be fascinating to conduct a multi-dimensional study including others voices such as dad, siblings, and others who were in close contact while the baby was in utero.

Robin Gillis of Harmony Manor is one of many who is interested in bringing music and memory to her residents. We are working on a grant and with the help of monetary donations, iPods and headsets, and iTunes gift cards plus volunteers like Diane Rice and the Lowry Varsity Cheer Squad, you should soon see this wonderful project in action. Sylvia Covarrubias at Lowry High School is collecting new and used iPods for this purpose.

If you missed the film, you can now view it on Netflix under documentaries or watch snippets on other Internet sites. Alive Inside enlightens, engages and encourages viewers to find the person buried deep within.

The UP & AATT 'EM - Alzheimer's Awareness Turkey Trot - offered an incredible sight on Thanksgiving morning as about 250 runners and walkers participated. While about 120 had registered and many had volunteered - plus I knew we would have the entire wrestling team plus many cheerleaders, cross country runners and our basketball teams - 80 more arrived to share in this occasion. Needless to say we ran out of registration forms and shirts, but dedicated volunteers had everyone ready by the time the Star Spangled Banner was sung and Tim Connors announced the 8K led by the wrestling team who set us in motion. Circling the neighborhood near Lowry, it was a joyous event with laughter and cheers filling the air.

A quick lap around the track ended the run/walk where participants were greeted with congratulations, water from HGH, bananas from Raley's, and chocolate milk - the new post-run drink of choice - provided by Wade Distributing. Raffle prizes from Rice Jewelers who also offered 20 percent on store purchases by participants through Christmas (bring in your bib), Goodnight Irene, Park Cinema, Winnemucca Inn, the Frugal Flamingo and HGH rounded out the morning. Additional support includes Humboldt General Hospital, Humboldt Sun, Barrick Gold, Humboldt Volunteer Hospice, 55-Trucking, KWNA, Silver Pinyon, KAIA Fit and several individual donations. All proceeds will be used for respite care at our monthly Winnemucca Alzheimer's Support Group meetings (second Wednesday of each month at noon at HGH), respite for caregivers, future education opportunities such as speakers or movies like Alive Inside, and for developing the Music and Memory drive.

An estimated 37,000 Nevadans aged 65 plus have Alzheimer's. An additional 159,570 Nevadans aged 45 plus, or one in seven, report that they are experiencing confusion or memory loss that is happening more often or getting worse, and yet 80 percent of them have not talked to their doctor. Alzheimer's is 100 perecnt fatal as there is no cure, no preventive vaccine and no medicine to reverse the disease. Our community education projects increase awareness and benefit all.







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