MusicMendsMinds, Inc. is a new intergenerational senior and student music therapy project in the Los Angeles area that helps improve the health of seniors or People with Parkinson’s (PWPs) and/or Cognitive Dementia while reducing stress on families. The major side effect is creating happy memories across all generations.

Carol and Irwin Rosenstein recently founded this organization after their own success story with music and social support. Irwin, who practiced real estate law was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006 (8 years ago). Until recently, the Rosenstein’s felt their lives slipping away while dealing with the adversities Parkinson’s can cause. Hope and life came back into their home and lives after Irwin’s passion for music was reignited by participating in a program called TimeOut @ UCLA, an intergenerational respite care program that connected students and seniors. Irwin’s memory, energy, and outlook on life improved dramatically, not only from playing the piano, but from mentoring the students—his new purpose in life.

Intergenerational support has been widely researched in social gerontology to help prevent isolation and stimulate cognitive functioning, keeping seniors integrated and engaged in the society and social life. Mrs. Rosenstein noticed Irwin’s over-the-top change and consulted with the neurologist who explained that “music may help stimulate increases in dopamine secretion from the brain for more sustained levels of energy and happiness”.

According to the American Psychological Association, music is a powerful medicine because it has multiple facets of healing through mind and body. Music can help alleviate the perception of pain and stress because it is associated with relaxation and may lower cortisol hormone levels.

Most importantly, the APA explains that music may ease the symptoms of Parkinson’s because it has the potential to improve movement coordination through the healing power of vibroacoustics (the process of hearing sound vibrations through the body). For these reasons, the Rosenstein’s wished to combine the powers of intergenerational support and music therapy to create an organization, MusicMendsMinds, Inc., which fosters the development of bands of musical seniors and students to help forestall the progression of such diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and related dementias. UCLA sparked the idea of using music to improve the wellbeing of seniors and has offered to become involved in tracking improvements in cognitive function and physical abilities to support future research for music therapy programs.

MusicMendsMinds, Inc. has already created its first band, The 5th Dementia, and rehearsals are taking place at Windward School and the Brentwood Presbyterian Church.

If you, or someone you know, are a musical senior with early cognitive decline and/or Parkinson’s and interested in joining the band or participating in the Organization, visit MusicMendsMinds.org