Deemed a Best of the Best ‘Program to Watch’ in the Technology Adoption category, CoroHealth’s Music1st & CoroFaith programs have helped residents achieve specific outcomes through tailored music programs.
Music is known to evoke a powerful response. It can be used to bring back memories, influence moods, and enrich overall quality of life. However, while evidence of the value of music therapy is mounting, such services can be expensive, while music therapists are few and far between.
That’s where CoroHealth LLC comes in. Through its Music1st program, the three-year-old therapeutic media service provider uses music therapists to design “Music Prescriptions” that are individualized for residents of senior care settings. Each 30- to 40-minute program is provided in the resident’s room through a proprietary computer unit and managed remotely through the Internet. Programs are tailored to accommodate residents’ musical preferences, of course, but also to achieve specific outcomes, such as to energize someone before a physical therapy appointment or to reduce anxiety. The genre, volume, tempo, instrumentation, vocalization, and texture of music are taken into account.
“It’s not a jukebox, it’s not entertainment, and it’s not designed to stay on all day long,” explains David Schofman, who became CEO after seeing the profound impact of music therapy on his daughter, who has special needs. “They’re all outcome driven and designed to take you from a certain state to another state.”
A typical daily regimen includes four Music1st sessions that are timed to support daily needs such as waking, sleeping, energizing, and relaxing. As part of its program offerings, CoroHealth also offers optional spiritual programming, including 250,000 sermons in the religion or denomination of residents’ choice, as well as news and current events. A downloadable version of Music1st is scheduled to launch in May.
While anecdotal evidence suggests sometimes dramatic improvements in senior care residents’ day-to-day health, such as increased appetite, after using Music1st, CoroHealth is conducting clinical trials with several universities and professional organizations to quantify its effectiveness in achieving specific outcomes. In one recent clinical trial led by neuroscientist Petr Janata, director of the Center for Mind and Brain at U.C. Davis, individualized Music1st programming was shown to reduce agitation for residents with Alzheimer’s and dementia by 27 to 55 percent over a six-month period.
“Music is so personal and so powerful and so cheap to provide,” says Schofman. “As an industry, music needs to be a standard part of the care plan.”
