Friday, April 29, 2011
Music Has Power
The Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, a member of the Beth Abraham Family of Health Services, is a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) agency founded in 1995 to restore, maintain and improve people's physical, emotional and neurologic functioning through the systematic use of music. For more information, visit www.imnf.org or call (718) 519-5840.
Music Memory and the Mind
Opera star Deborah Voight performs for Alzheimer's patients. Discussion follows with Oliver Sacks and other Neuroscientists.
Oliver Sacks - Musicophilia - Alzheimer's/The Power of Music
Oliver Sacks talks about Alzheimer's and the power of music.
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400033539
iPods for Alzheimer's
Based on 30 years of clinical experience, the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF), a leader in research and clinical music therapy programs for persons with Alzheimer's and dementia, has partnered with Music and Memory.org to launch the Well-Tuned: Music Players for Health iPod Program to allow Alzheimer's patients to access the benefits of therapeutic music remotely.
Through the Well-Tuned: Music Players for Health program, IMNF music therapists and other specialists work with family members and caregivers to create a customized list of music, specifically tailored for the individual with Alzheimer's. The music is then loaded onto an iPod and listened to in order to stabilize mood, reduce tension and improve overall quality of life. The program is customized for individuals, nursing homes and community-based programs. It's an easy and affordable way to bring therapeutic music programming anywhere. More info on the Well-Tuned: Music Players for Health program can be found at http://www.bethabe.org/Top_10s_for_Memory327.html.
What it Means to "Guard" & "Conserve"
From: National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse
The purpose of the law - known both as guardianship and conservatorship is to “GUARD” and “CONSERVE”
* To GUARD “incapacitated” or “incompetent” people from harming
themselves
* To CONSERVE their assets and property; and
* To prevent them from becoming a “public charge.”
BUT SOMETHING’S GONE TERRIBLY WRONG!
Over the years, a growing uncaring and unjust judicial system has helped convert guardianship/conservatorship from an appropriate law to one which, if misused, is damaging to the general public. At present, it operates to ensnare the most vulnerable people in a larger and larger trawling net, now including those merely physically "incapacitated"! It has become a feeding trough for unethical lawyers and other "fiduciaries" appointed by the courts to protect, but many of whom become nothing more than predators.
Wards, instead of being protected by the system, are victimized by it. Strangers are given total and absolute control of life, liberty, and property of their wards. Wards of the state lose all rights involving self-determination, including:
• the right to contract, including the right to choose a lawyer;
• the right to control their assets and make financial decisions;
• the right to remain in their own home and protect it from sale;
• the right to protect and enjoy their personal property;
• the right to choose where to live;
• the right to accept or refuse medical treatment, including psychotropic drugs;
• the right to decide their social environments and contacts;
• the right to assure prompt payment of taxes and liabilities;
• the right to vote;
• the right to drive;
• the right to marry; and
• the right to complain.
After being stripped of all their rights, wards are left defenseless and subject to exploitation by the very people chosen to protect them; they are now invisible and voiceless.
Uncaring/corrupt judges misuse the law and engage in blatant due process, civil/human rights violations. Victims aren’t always given notice of hearings at which their competence will be adjudicated, aren’t always allowed to attend, and often don’t have lawyers. If the court does appoint lawyers, often they are too closely affiliated with other professionals who make their living in this special area; and do not properly represent the victims’ interests. Corrupt judges do not apply the required evidentiary standards in making adjudications of incompetency, and frequently fail to obey the protective statutes, or include specific findings of fact.
Homes are sold to insiders at below market! Contents - family heirlooms, jewelry, photographs, etc. - disappear, either stolen outright or sold at auction. Estate assets are rapidly paid out to the fiduciaries in exorbitant "fees" and "commissions" until there is nothing left!
“Fiduciaries” are given power of life and death, burying their wards in nursing homes where they are kept chemically restrained with unnecessary and dangerous drugs; family members are denied any say in their care, and sometimes denied visitation, except under guard at their own expense!
Hard to believe this is happening in America? Believe it!
AND GUESS WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE COURT-APPOINTED FIDUCIARIES TAKE EVERYTHING AND LEAVE THEIR WARDS WITH NOTHING? A shocking twist: the American Taxpayer, whom these statutes are supposed to protect, is actually now PAYING THE TAB FOR THEIR CONTINUED LIFELONG CARE UNDER MEDICAID while the people who are "licensed to steal" enjoy their unearned and unjust enrichment. INSTEAD OF PROTECTING THE PUBLIC INTEREST, GUARDIANSHIP HAS INDEED BECOME A BURDEN TO THE TAXPAYER!… an extremely ironic, costly, and appalling consequence of a good law gone bad! Some fiduciaries claim that what they're doing (while filling their pockets) is to "spend down" the assets specifically to qualify the ward for Medicaid! No way!!! That's not what the law intended!
The purpose of the law - known both as guardianship and conservatorship is to “GUARD” and “CONSERVE”
* To GUARD “incapacitated” or “incompetent” people from harming
themselves
* To CONSERVE their assets and property; and
* To prevent them from becoming a “public charge.”
BUT SOMETHING’S GONE TERRIBLY WRONG!
Over the years, a growing uncaring and unjust judicial system has helped convert guardianship/conservatorship from an appropriate law to one which, if misused, is damaging to the general public. At present, it operates to ensnare the most vulnerable people in a larger and larger trawling net, now including those merely physically "incapacitated"! It has become a feeding trough for unethical lawyers and other "fiduciaries" appointed by the courts to protect, but many of whom become nothing more than predators.
Wards, instead of being protected by the system, are victimized by it. Strangers are given total and absolute control of life, liberty, and property of their wards. Wards of the state lose all rights involving self-determination, including:
• the right to contract, including the right to choose a lawyer;
• the right to control their assets and make financial decisions;
• the right to remain in their own home and protect it from sale;
• the right to protect and enjoy their personal property;
• the right to choose where to live;
• the right to accept or refuse medical treatment, including psychotropic drugs;
• the right to decide their social environments and contacts;
• the right to assure prompt payment of taxes and liabilities;
• the right to vote;
• the right to drive;
• the right to marry; and
• the right to complain.
After being stripped of all their rights, wards are left defenseless and subject to exploitation by the very people chosen to protect them; they are now invisible and voiceless.
Uncaring/corrupt judges misuse the law and engage in blatant due process, civil/human rights violations. Victims aren’t always given notice of hearings at which their competence will be adjudicated, aren’t always allowed to attend, and often don’t have lawyers. If the court does appoint lawyers, often they are too closely affiliated with other professionals who make their living in this special area; and do not properly represent the victims’ interests. Corrupt judges do not apply the required evidentiary standards in making adjudications of incompetency, and frequently fail to obey the protective statutes, or include specific findings of fact.
Homes are sold to insiders at below market! Contents - family heirlooms, jewelry, photographs, etc. - disappear, either stolen outright or sold at auction. Estate assets are rapidly paid out to the fiduciaries in exorbitant "fees" and "commissions" until there is nothing left!
“Fiduciaries” are given power of life and death, burying their wards in nursing homes where they are kept chemically restrained with unnecessary and dangerous drugs; family members are denied any say in their care, and sometimes denied visitation, except under guard at their own expense!
Hard to believe this is happening in America? Believe it!
AND GUESS WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE COURT-APPOINTED FIDUCIARIES TAKE EVERYTHING AND LEAVE THEIR WARDS WITH NOTHING? A shocking twist: the American Taxpayer, whom these statutes are supposed to protect, is actually now PAYING THE TAB FOR THEIR CONTINUED LIFELONG CARE UNDER MEDICAID while the people who are "licensed to steal" enjoy their unearned and unjust enrichment. INSTEAD OF PROTECTING THE PUBLIC INTEREST, GUARDIANSHIP HAS INDEED BECOME A BURDEN TO THE TAXPAYER!… an extremely ironic, costly, and appalling consequence of a good law gone bad! Some fiduciaries claim that what they're doing (while filling their pockets) is to "spend down" the assets specifically to qualify the ward for Medicaid! No way!!! That's not what the law intended!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Music Training May Help Keep Aging Brain Healthy >> Caring.com
Reposted from:
Caring.com
MONDAY, April 25 (HealthDay News) -- Music lessons may help keep the brain healthy as people grow older, a new study suggests.
Researchers from the University of Kansas Medical Center divided 70 healthy adults, ages 60 to 83, into three groups based on their amount of musical experience: no musical training, one to nine years of music lessons, and at least 10 years of musical study.
More than half of those with a music background studied piano, about one-quarter played woodwind instruments such as the flute or clarinet, and others played string instruments, percussion or brass instruments.
The participants -- who had similar fitness and education levels and were free of Alzheimer's disease -- were given several cognitive tests. Those with the greatest amount of musical experience did best on these tests of mental acuity, followed by those with less musical study and those who never took music lessons.
Compared to non-musicians, the people with a high degree of musical experience had much higher scores on the cognitive tests, including those related to visuospatial memory, naming objects, and the brain's ability to adapt to new information (cognitive flexibility).
The benefits of musical study were still apparent even in those who no longer played an instrument, the researchers said.
The study appears online in the journal Neuropsychology.
"Musical activity throughout life may serve as a challenging cognitive exercise, making your brain fitter and more capable of accommodating the challenges of aging," lead researcher Brenda Hanna-Pladdy said in a journal news release.
Hanna-Pladdy, now an assistant professor in neurology at Emory University School of Medicine, added, "Since studying an instrument requires years of practice and learning, it may create alternate connections in the brain that could compensate for cognitive declines as we get older."
The Society for Neuroscience outlines ways to keep your brain healthy as you age.
SOURCE: Neuropsychology, news release, April 20, 2011
Copyright ©2011 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Caring.com
MONDAY, April 25 (HealthDay News) -- Music lessons may help keep the brain healthy as people grow older, a new study suggests.
Researchers from the University of Kansas Medical Center divided 70 healthy adults, ages 60 to 83, into three groups based on their amount of musical experience: no musical training, one to nine years of music lessons, and at least 10 years of musical study.
More than half of those with a music background studied piano, about one-quarter played woodwind instruments such as the flute or clarinet, and others played string instruments, percussion or brass instruments.
The participants -- who had similar fitness and education levels and were free of Alzheimer's disease -- were given several cognitive tests. Those with the greatest amount of musical experience did best on these tests of mental acuity, followed by those with less musical study and those who never took music lessons.
Compared to non-musicians, the people with a high degree of musical experience had much higher scores on the cognitive tests, including those related to visuospatial memory, naming objects, and the brain's ability to adapt to new information (cognitive flexibility).
The benefits of musical study were still apparent even in those who no longer played an instrument, the researchers said.
The study appears online in the journal Neuropsychology.
"Musical activity throughout life may serve as a challenging cognitive exercise, making your brain fitter and more capable of accommodating the challenges of aging," lead researcher Brenda Hanna-Pladdy said in a journal news release.
Hanna-Pladdy, now an assistant professor in neurology at Emory University School of Medicine, added, "Since studying an instrument requires years of practice and learning, it may create alternate connections in the brain that could compensate for cognitive declines as we get older."
The Society for Neuroscience outlines ways to keep your brain healthy as you age.
SOURCE: Neuropsychology, news release, April 20, 2011
Copyright ©2011 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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