For a story to hit newscasters so hard, whose job it is to sift through and deliver content big and small, heartbreaking and happy, local and international, it has to mean there is something deeper than what meets the eye. This is a story with a soul that filtered through the normal feed of content, to touch hearts across the country.
In this video, we see a crew of news anchors from WXIA-11 from Atlanta, Georgia covering their everyday segment, when a certain story about music therapy for elders living with dementia is brought up, and one newscaster breaks down on live TV.
The covered story starts with Rosemary Bowers, a 99-year-old woman at AG Rhodes Rehab, in Georgia, who is undergoing music therapy sessions. She isn’t learning anything new; in fact, it’s almost as though she is traveling back in time. Rosemary is laughing and smiling as she recounts her childhood, even the moment she met her husband while listening to old songs with a headset.
Music therapist John Abel uses the music and memory program with many residents at home, including Linda Avery’s mother who has dementia. It is through this form of therapy, she can revisit her youth, jogging her memory through moments back in time, wherein present time, she can be a bit more stable. Linda says, “She looks right at me, looks right into my eyes and lets me know that she knows me. And that’s just awesome.”
As the story wraps up, and the newscasters make a few closing comments, one of the newscasters starts to speak but is overcome with emotion. The show goes to break, and when they return, the same newscaster, between tears, finishes his thought in regards to his late father, saying, “Music was such a big part of his life and seeing the memories that these folks had literally struck a chord. It’s powerful stuff.”
Family members will do anything to bring a sense of normal to those who they love and are struggling with dementia. There are a lot of stories that do the rounds in which people turn to music to help their loved ones connect with their lives before dementia. They’re heartfelt stories that need to be recognized. It’s a tough phase for everyone to go through.
Click below to see how truly moving music can be. It resonates wholly and intimately with everyone who listens.
