Music therapy reduces requests for meds

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Leave it to an Austin businessman to figure out a way to make music more than just entertainment, but an alternative medicine for physical and emotional pain.

"I was inspired by a family who had a baby in the neo-natal intensive care unit" said David Schofman, CEO of Coro Health . "While their child was in the hospital, they couldn't touch him but they were able to connect with him through music."

Schofman said he then started doing research into music therapy and realized that though there were proven benefits, there were no viable business models that could incorporate it on a large-scale basis in hospital or nursing facilities.

That's when he created Music First , a program that aims to reduce a patient's pain, both physical and emotional.

"I found that this specific demographic was an area that was very much in need," said Schofman, referring to the nursing home community.

Through Music First, Schofman, a doctor and a music therapist will work individually with each patient to assess their needs. After asking each patient about their music preferences, they will test a range of tunes and watch the effect.

"In addition to watching their physical responses to that music, we're also measuring their physiological responses to that," said Schofman. "So, if they respond both emotionally positive and physiologically responsive then that's a plus. That is something that we then build their prescription off of."

Schofman then puts in the patient's room a plug-in mini computer, fully loaded with a timed playlist that he and the patient's caregivers can update remotely with new songs and new sermons.

"We have wake music, we have day energy music, we have calming music, we have sleeping music," said Schofman.

A lot of tunes, but are they producing any results?

Just head on over to Manor Oaks Nursing Center in Rockdale and interrupt 81-year-old Verna Benford's singing to find out.

"It's just like getting my fishing pole and going to a pond that's got fish in it that will bite," said Benford, after finishing the chorus to My Girl. "That's the most relaxing thing I can do. The music is about the second thing."

Benford was singing a much different tune just a few months ago. After losing her husband of 45 years and then becoming unable to care for herself, she had little to look forward to.

"I didn't want to be here at all," said Benford, looking at the bedside picture of her late husband. "I'm frustrated at him for leaving me sometimes. When things get really really hard, I get mean. And, then I tell him 'oh, I love you. I'll be with you someday.'"

Benford was one of the first nursing home residents to get a Music First prescription. While she favors gospel music, she also gets hopping with the Golden Oldies. And, when times are really tough, she can close her eyes, sing My Girl and remember her first kiss, first dance and happiest memories with her husband.

"They're making a joyful noise and I join in with them," said Benford. "I like it."

Cyndia Ingram, an administrator with Manor Oaks said there is no doubt the music has made a difference in the residents' lives.

"What do you have to do all day but lay in bed and think "I hurt. I hurt. I hurt?" said Ingram. "But, then the music comes on. It redirects their thinking to where they're not concentrating on their pain."

And, Ingram said, those who administer pain medication are monitoring the difference.

"They're able to track how often they request it," said Ingram. "Maybe the first 30 days it was 20 times and now with the music therapy it's only like ten. So, you can slowly see the progression."

A progression in health and in relationships. Instead of just feeding and assisting the residents, the caretakers now find themselves listening to stories and connecting on a deeper level.

"It makes them feel 'I'm important enough for somebody to come in and ask me what it is that I need to help me through what I'm going through,'" said Ingram. "It helps us to understand, for just that moment, why they're feeling the way they do."

A prescription with such positive side effects, it's now in high demand. While Music First is only in two nursing facilities now, it will be in 25 more by the end of the year.