Music Mends Minds, Part 4

– Welcome back everyone’s to Answers for Elder’s Radio Network with the wonderful Carol Rosenstein, the founder and creator and amazing trailblazer of Music Mends Minds. And it’s an amazing, incredible program that is available for seniors and those that are suffering from neuro-generative diseases, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, dementia, depression, loneliness, you name it. And, Carol, it is such a joy to have you with us to learn about your program. So thank you again for being with us.

– Thank you for having me, this is really a mighty moment together.

– Carol, I watched your video. When I first learned about you, your PR person reached out to us and said, would you be interested? It took me a while to get you worked into our schedule, but I really wanted to. The thing that’s really fascinating about what you do is that you are so accessible to people, and you have programs in different ways for people to make a difference. Tell us first a little bit about your partnership with Rotary, so that we understand a little bit about that connection.

– This is a few years old already. I’m a Rotarian and they heard our call. Rotary International they have partnered us now several years. And I’m appealing to your listeners, Suzanne, if anyone is a Rotarian out there and would like to be part of our partnership with Rotary International, please give me a call. You can talk about you creating a music group through your club as a community outreach program, and you will take that into an adult community services organization like Culver City Senior Center, and my god, you can sponsor a music group bringing music to the seniors in your neighborhood.

– Sure, there’s such a need out there, especially because so many of our senior centers right now could use support, and certainly program directors of community senior centers. We work with them a lot here in the Pacific Northwest, and certainly we would love to integrate your program into places where we can help.

– And also if there are any activities directors of senior facilities that would like to come on board, Rotary is very busy in the Washington state area. We must have eight or ten different music groups already that are sponsored by rotary clubs. You can go onto our website and look to see where our music groups are located, scroll through and find those that are in the Washington area. We’re soon to open up in Canada and the easiest way that this to happen is through a rotary club, so they become our boots on the ground music to all of your seniors in their neighborhoods.

– So as far as in Washington state, do you besides the Zoom calls, do you have any local locations that are meeting right now?
– Again, I would need to go onto the website. There are several facilities that are in the Washington area that do have active in-person groups coming out of our COVID hibernation.

– And then with with the types of programs that you offer to be a rotarian and put something like this together, what a great way to integrate into your own life, to be able to make a difference. We have so many people out there that have always said, I want to do something that is positive. So if you’re a professional, if you’re thinking about wanting to do something that makes a positive impact, maybe you have a musical background, you know, I don’t even think you need much of one, do you?

– No, No, somebody who’s led a choir, some leadership ability. and can come up with some songs to sing, and invite seniors who played a musical instrument sometimes back when, we say dust your instruments off and get back into the rhythm of life. And because of these music storage cells, even to learn how to strum a guitar again will not take a lot of effort on your part. You will reinitiate your level of musicality that easily, because these music cells are ready to go the moment you call upon him.

– For those of you that are listening, please go to https://www.musicmendsminds.org/. Check out what they do. They make an amazing difference. And I want to end this hour by just putting a call out to anyone. This is an organization that makes an incredible difference in literally hundreds of thousands of lives. And if you consider making a donation to the organization, we hope you will — $5 makes all the difference if we all came together, because this is something that can transform literally thousands and thousands of those that are suffering from neuro-generative disease. And I hope our listeners can really go and find out a little bit about what you do. And your funds go to fund your organization. There’s a lot of moving parts. I’m sure is they’re not Carol?

– Oh my gosh, today we are busy with so many tangential items, but the key is the blanket, the umbrella over everything is music. To people of the world, we are suffering still from COVID. It’s all the depression and the anxiety and the loss of physicality. I mean, it was horrendous. We’re now coming out of that dark tunnel, and it’s now time to get moving again, integrated again, and make music part of that reentry into your world.

– What you’re saying is so true. What we’ve found is is that there’s a lot of seniors. They were in lockdown for so long. There’s this genuine fear about reconnecting again, and it’s been hard for people to make that adjustment. There’s a lot of fear out there. But it’s also I think one of the things that’s happened, Carol, is that because their world has gotten so much smaller, they they may crave some sort of connection, but they just don’t know how to bridge it. This sounds like an amazing way to get on a Zoom, to kind of start integrating your brain of connecting again, to finding that way of socializing in a positive way. And then maybe the next step is to go participate in a group, or to go to a community senior center that offers a program, or on the other hand, if you’re not maybe it’s something that you have no brain to illness, but you may have want to make a difference in support and be a volunteer. This is something that obviously is a wonderful resource, and we’re so excited to connect you with so many seniors and organizations in our circle. I know, not too long ago, we had a conversation with the MorningStar team, and I think they have 33 communities across the country and I know they’re talking to your people about potentially getting involved with your your programs. So that’s a really exciting thing to see. Just how now the care communities are recognizing what you’re doing and there’s a real excitement, Carol, and so I’m impressed, absolutely.

– You know what, I’m impressed too. This has passed my out-of-the box thinking and my dream that just continues to unfold. They I heard Dr Bronstein say ou’re watching the power of music changing brain chemistry, it’s changing the world.

– It is. And I think that’s the real message for today, is that the whole power of music, it’s so prevalent, and sometimes we take it all for granted. It’s like, oh, yeah, it’s playing in the background or whatever. But you know, to be mindful of what we’re putting into our brain to, keeping the message positive, keeping the message of music that we have around us, something that makes us feel good and helps us trigger memories of wonderful things. And I think that’s really what you do. And it’s so awesome to have you on the show today. So so what’s next, really quick, for Music Men’s Minds?

– Well, you know, we now have a health-related initiative, public health, because for every hour that we’re making our people happy, that means they’re still at home with their families acting as a family unit. That means they can’t be singing and happy and being in an emergency room or a doctor’s office, or a little bed at the same time. Yes, so today the move the public health initiative is now showing that music can save our governments and insurance companies billions of dollars. And so we move now from just catering to music in the world, is to now waking up insurance companies and Medicare to say, hello, this is something that can save you billions of dollars – Please consider supporting and helping us.

– Fabulous And so in closing, Carol, how do we reach you?
– https://www.musicmendsminds.org/, that’s our website. Email info@musicmendsminds.org/, phone (818) 326-050, and I personally will say hello.

– Oh, I’m so excited. Well now I have your number — you never know and I might give you a call their girlfriend. And to each and every one of you that I’ve joined us for this hour, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. This is one of my favorite interviews ever. I’m so thrilled to meet you, and please go to the website and at the very least watch the video. It’s tells such an incredible story. Carol, you’re such a delight. I am just so thrilled. Thank you for being with us. To each and every one of you till next week. Remember what I always say, be good to each other.