SOHP has donated many CDs to nursing homes and to people who live in nursing homes.  In nursing homes, music can be used for:

• Sing along activities – Singing is not only fun, but recalling the lyrics helps memory.
• Background music – Calm, peaceful, soothing music can help calm and soothe patients.
• Religious music – Those who can’t make to actual services will feel part of a worship service.

My friend was dying from Lou Gehrig’s disease.  In the last five years of her life she could only move her head.  But she could talk; she could laugh; she could sing.  And she could compose hymns.  Her brain still worked just fine.  So she dictated the hymn lyrics to others who typed them. She hummed the melodies that were in her head to a keyboardist who played those tunes.  In those last five years she was with us, she self-published several volumes of hymns.  Many were played at her “going home” celebration.  I saw firsthand what a difference music made in her life and the lives of her family and friends.  It gave her a purpose and strength to go on.  It gave the rest of us the gift of her for some extra time and the gift of her music forever.  How have you seen music help the dying?