It is a family issue, perhaps the most painful, faced without giving in to despair, but by playing the music at full volume.
«Mom, suffering fromAlzheimer, he shook himself out of his torpor, listening to the songs of his youth. He still remembered them all by heart”, is moved by Franco Branco, former director of the theatre San Carlo, president of the Union of Italian Musicians and Artists who, reflecting on his own personal experience, when there was nothing left to do for his mother, wanted to try to give comfort to others in the same conditions as hers, so that they could find, in a infinite moment, memory and joy. As? With a singing workshop, “Coral…mente”, aimed at people with mild-medium cognitive impairment, carried out in the Cto hospital with the support of the Banco di Napoli Foundation, the collaboration of the Koiné association, and culminating in an extraordinary concert. On the notes of Funicular funicular, ‘O my sun, O’ deaf and dumb and a themed dress code, with Sixties-style accessories and clothes. «Unforgettable emotions. I re-presented the project, at the request of the participants’ relatives, who were also involved in the activities: both in the healthcare facility and at home”, says Branco, explaining that the caregiver with fourteen people affected by cognitive decline they became cherished and brighter faces.
«They have somehow started socializing again, studying for rehearsals and performances, finding a purpose in their daily lives; they finally found themselves protagonists like when they were kids, and even a bit in competition with their classmates.” And these results are certified by the neurologists coordinated by Bruno Ronga and by the psychotherapists of the Colli company, as well as evident to the musicians Giuseppe Schirone, for the choir, and Romeo Barbaro, on the percussions and tammorre, who accompanied them in the undertaking, until to the final performance marked by applause from friends, children and partners. Branco smiles: «A real success for everyone», even clinically.
THE FEEDBACK
«From an emotional and behavioral point of view, we have found big changes among the members of the laboratory: they kept the rhythm and sang all the verses perfectly. Happy to be there, their attention did not wane during the entire hour of the weekly meeting” is what psychologist Luisa Pellino certified with her colleague Sara D’Angelo.
«Music and the choir have become an instrument of “rehabilitation“capable of improving their mood, increasing self-esteem and self-esteem, encouraging the expression and sharing of their experiences”, says Ronga, scientific director of “Music and Alzheimer”, the project-opportunity for humanization in care. Because the path has become “a journey of re-orientation and consolidation of relationships, often rarefied or even non-existent”, adds the neurologist at the CTO, a center that welcomes more and more patients.
Already today, in the world, dementia, of which Alzheimer’s is the most widespread form, affects around 55 million sufferers (which will be 132 in 2050, with a new case every three seconds). In Italy there are over one million, of which 600 thousand with Alzheimer’s, at the center of aemergency social with costs destined to become unsustainable over time. But, above all, the drama overwhelms not only those affected, but spouses and cohabitants, like Branco, often struggling and looking for do-it-yourself solutions to avoid sending their brains into retirement, rekindle hope and try to prevent or prolong the initial stage of the pathology while waiting to be able to count on definitive therapy, including pharmacological therapy.
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