Where Words Fail, Music Speaks

When I first started working as a nurse in post-acute and long-term care in the mid-1990s, I had the pleasure of collaborating with an Episcopal priest who tended to the spiritual needs of the residents through nondenominational services, friendly visits, and coordination of visits and services with a large variety of religious community partners. He noticed how the residents with more advanced dementia became more alert, engaged, smiled, tapped their feet, and sang during the musical portions of the services and celebrations.