The Primal Connection has recently been engaged in a 5 week pilot program at Lake Placid Health Care that used Drum Therapy to reach Alzheimer's and dementia patients. The objectives of the program were to have a positive effect on their behavior and enrich the lives of the patients .
.The program "exceeded expectations" according to Dorothy Garman, Activities Director for the institution. Lake Placid Health Care is now planning to keep the program going on a permanent basis. The Primal Connection has designed it with that in mind and will soon be training staff members from LPHC.
"The program is designed as a two part seeding operation," said Fred Leavitt, President of the Primal Connection "The first part introduces the health and spiritual benefits of hand drumming to health care institutions and the second part is in training the staff so that they can take the program over. This frees up the Primal Connection to move on to another institution. In this way we can help the most people."
This is a heart warming story of many small joys: A hundred year old woman getting up from her wheelchair to dance, watching the light come into eyes that were vacant, smiles from people who forgot how to smile and words of gratitude from a man that has not spoken in ages.
Lake Placid Health Care has found drum therapy to have a positive effect on a broad spectrum of patients. The mentally and physically impaired, as well as the blind and deaf have respond to the drum with joy..