"Despite seniors being designated as high-risk targets for contracting COVID-19, music therapy continues to be an imported source of treatment for some long-term-care facilities.
Why?
Because it would be a higher risk to their mental welfare if they didn’t.
“We consider music therapy so crucial to the well-being of our residents,” say Krista Samborsky, director of resident and family relations for 147 Elder Street, a private residential care home for 52 persons with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in North York.
“We know that music affects individuals with dementia differently. If we didn’t have it, we’d be seeing greater signs of depression and our residents communicating less verbally. They’d start turning inward.”
So, once a week, a therapist from Thornhill-based Miya Music Therapy visits the residence exclusively — armed with a guitar or another instrument, wearing a protective mask and practising social distancing — to engage the residents in a group song session that lasts up to an hour."
Read more of Nick Krewen's article at the TORONTO STAR.