Alive Inside Page #2

In America with dementia.

10 million people spend a large

Part of their life caring for

Them.

There are maybe a million

People in nursing homes

Losing their

Connection to life.

Let me give you a kiss.

C'mon, sweetheart!

Mmm.

Dad!

Hello.

Hello!

Johnny?

Hey, Johnny!

How are you?

I mean, isn't this desire...

A desire to awaken another

Person, to what they are,

To what they could be...

A deep part of being human?

How often does anybody have

A chance to affect the lives of

A million or more people?

I'm hoping people are ready to

Come along on this journey...

here you go..

You hold this.

There you go.

We all know music is magic.

I feel like I'm

One with the world.

And for those with dementia,

It can be a back door into

The mind.

The parts of the brain

Which are involved in

Remembering music and

Responding to music are

Not affected too much in

Alzheimer's disease or other

Dementias...

part of the reason why

Musical memories are

So strong has

Something to do with the way

Music enters our brain in the

First place.

Music has more ability to

Activate more parts of

The brain than any

Other stimulus.

Music seems to be a cultural

Invention which makes use of

Parts of the brain developed for

Other purposes.

Not only auditory parts,

But visual parts,

Emotional parts,

And at the lower level,

In the cerebellum... All the

Basic parts for coordination.

When we are young, music

Records itself in our motions

And emotions.

Luckily, these are the last

Parts of the brain

Touched by Alzheimer's.

Great song.

Yep.

Can we hold hands a little bit?

Ah, that's better.

We're too far from each other.

For the patients with

Alzheimer's, it has to be

Music which has meaning for them

And is correlated

With memory and feeling.

Hold you so much

And by exciting or awakening

Those pathways, we have

A gateway to stimulate and reach

Somebody who otherwise is

Unreachable.

Yeah, it's not an

Easy life for you.

I love you.

I love you, too.

I have one resident

That barely opened her eyes, she

Didn't respond.

As much as I tried... I knew

Her for two years...

No matter what I tried, massage

Wouldn't work,

Nothing worked.

But when we got introduced to

The iPods and the family

Told me the things that she

Liked, it was amazing once we

Put the iPod on her.

She started shaking her feet,

She started moving her head.

Her son was just amazed...

okay, can we stop?

'Cause now I'm...

getting...

I'm seeing her all over again.

What we're spending on drugs

That mostly don't work dwarfs

What it would take to deliver

Personal music to every

Nursing home resident in

America.

That's to pause it, to

Start it up again,

And hit the button again.

Couldn't be easier.

Yes.

So why don't these people

Have their music already?

And why does it take

An outsider like Dan to

Get it for them?

Ooh

In today's really crazy

System, I can sit down

And write out a script

For a $1,000 a month

Antidepressant, no problem,

Nobody asks any questions.

Ooh

If I want to provide a person

With a $40 personal music

System, that will take a lot of

Work,

Because personal music doesn't

Count as a medical intervention.

You see what I'm saying?

It's sort of a side thing over

Here.

The real business, trust me,

Is in the pill bottle.

Open for me.

Our healthcare system

Imagines the human being to be

A very complicated machine,

And we've figured out

How to turn the dials.

Blood pressure?

Oh, turn that down, you know?

Blood sugar?

Oh, turn that down.

We have medicines that can

Adjust the dials.

We haven't done anything,

Medically speaking, to touch the

Heart and soul of a patient.

Gil?

Yes?

They want you upstairs.

You have to come take your meds.

Mmm.

No, you refused this morning,

So they want you to

Come now and take them.

No.

Listen, you know it's

Important, okay?

Look how you're acting,

Okay, you need your medication.

Well, Gil is a little different.

As you can see, he's a big guy,

He's a strong guy.

When he gets agitated,

We really need things in place

That are going to work and

Work quickly.

My anger manifests itself in

Very many different ways.

The anger is there, but

Sometimes I can't express it.

I like to think of

Distress as communication.

If you give a highly sedating

Medication to that kind of

A person, you're actually

Taking away the one avenue they

Have to tell you they

Have a problem.

And the problem with that is you

Can turn a person who is engaged

Into a person who

Is withdrawn into themselves

And no longer able to connect to

The world around them.

I wish I had my freedom.

That's the most important part.

That is what makes me the most

Pissed off of all.

That I can't go out.

The thing people lose most

Is those intangibles... The idea

Of choice and control.

We're going to do your

Medicine now, all right?

Just every aspect of

"What am I going to do next?"

Is dictated to you in

Most institutional environments.

Drink some of that.

And music creates

Spontaneity that you cannot

Create in an institution.

It takes you to a place where

You can leave the regimen

And go off in a world

That you create and that you

Connect with on your own terms.

Hi, Gil.

Hi.

I brought you your music

That you requested.

And put it on your

Ears, over your head.

That fit okay?

Yeah.

Okay. And here's your iPod.

All you have to do is click the

Center button, one time.

The magic of your sighs

I think you're all set.

Would you still love...

tomo...

tonight with words

Unspoken

you said that I'm

The only one

There is no pill that

Does that.

And medicine can dim the

Spark or the light, it never

Brings it out.

What they need is engagement,

They need to succeed in

The world around them.

So, you want an iPod, too?

First, what is an iPod?

I don't know anything about

Electronics!

He has his favorite music,

And it's playing.

That's all it is.

It's like your own jukebox.

Okay, let's start.

She wants to see what it

Looks like, the iPod.

Small.

No kidding.

Denise is

A bipolar schizophrenic.

She's been with us for about

Two years.

I like...

Denise doesn't hold back any

Emotion.

Her joy is off the charts.

Unfortunately, so is her

Sorrow and her anger.

So, she's very raw, she's very

Real.

Do you know

What I'd like to do?

Denise is probably

An extreme resident that

We have here.

I'm being emphatic,

And I have a very vivid

Imagination.

I'm very resilient but I drop,

And I keep on trying,

And I drop, but I never

Stop, and I drop.

One of these days,

I'm going to drop and

Stay on the floor!

Careful.

I won't fall!

I've lived here two years

And never fallen!

I couldn't believe the music

Let Denise

Push away her walker.

She'd been using that walker

Every day for two years.

It's Spanish.

You're not Spanish.

No, I'm not Spanish.

I'm following your lead.

I'm having fun.

Good, me, too.

A little music bringing this

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