A pilot scheme to evoke musical memories for people living with dementia is being tried out in Dunfermline.
Playlist for Life was set up by broadcaster Sally Magnusson last year as a charity devoted to helping people with dementia find meaningful music to help them stay tuned into the world around them.
For Sally, daughter of former Mastermind quizmaster Magnus, the illness which robs people of their past has a particular resonance as she watched her own mother battle dementia.
Despite all the other difficulties associated with the condition, Sally’s mum Mamie continued to respond to music to the very end.
Driven by her personal experience, Sally founded the charity, which sees personalised playlists of favourite music stored on iPods to be played to those with dementia.
The Carnegie Dunfermline Trust has been given a grant of nearly £10,500 towards the pilot training programme in the town.
Run by Playlist for Life trustee and trainer Andy Lowndes, it will work with staff from care homes, voluntary groups working with people with dementia in the community and family carers.
They will be provided with specialist training and IT equipment to allow them to build individual lists which mean a lot to those listening.
The training will include guidance on the best ways of developing playlists for people with dementia, how to use iPod technology and iTunes and how to run a donation drive to collect used iPods.
The pilot will then be evaluated so Playlist for Life can find out effective ways to develop and roll out this model nationwide.
Dunfermline has been picked for this pilot as the size of the community provides a balanced cross-section of those affected by dementia, both within family homes and residential care.
Of those diagnosed with dementia in Fife, around 63.5% live in their own home, while the remaining 36.5% live in long-term care.
The Carnegie Dunfermline Trust’s chairman Robin Watson said: “The trustees are very pleased to support Playlist for Life with this unique pilot in Dunfermline.
“We are aware there are few particularly effective drugs to treat dementia and that the best care available is, essentially, human intervention.
“Sharing music that has personal meaning for an individual can help family members and others looking after someone at home or in residential care recover the closeness of a relationship.
“We believe supporting this pilot will go some way towards helping the growing numbers of families in Dunfermline affected by this cruel disease.”
Sally, whose moving experience of caring for her mother is told in her new book Where Memories Go: Why Dementia Changes Everything, added: “As chairwoman of Playlist for Life, I’m delighted to receive this generous assistance.
“It will enable us to develop a training programme that will bring the benefits of personally meaningful music to people with dementia in Dunfermline and also provide us with a model we can take elsewhere. We can’t wait to get going.”