From Hertfordshire

Back in 2016, my wife, Huguette, was in a care home – St Matthew’s in Redbourn – living with an advanced stage of Alzheimer’s disease. She was usually unresponsive and often difficult when staff cared for her.

After speaking to care home staff and members of this charity, I agreed to help create a personalised playlist of music we hoped Huguette would respond to. During my next visit, we played this music and almost immediately Huguette’s face lit up and she started to sing along to the songs she recognised. She was clearly positively stimulated by this music, and her reaction had a positive effect on myself and others present. In later trials care staff were similarly positively stimulated by the evident joy Huguette was experiencing listening and singing.

After this experience the family created a Boom Box of music she responded to which was available to staff and visitors to play to Huguette. There is no doubt that having this playlist enhanced the quality of her remaining life.

Song that stood out: ‘Ne Me Quitte Pas’ – Jacques Brel