The Music Connection offers the healing power of music to residents of care facilities. This program
provides monthly interactive musical programming conducted by professional artists to seniors in the Texas Hill Country.

We are currently providing the gift of music to residents in 35 nursing homes, assisted living centers and
the Veterans Administration Hospital long-term care ward in the service area of the Texas Heritage
Music Foundation. With your generous donation, we are looking to increase the number of house concerts we currently provide. Please Contact Us if you have questions related to the program.

Too often our elders in long-term residential placement facilities suffer from depression, anxiety and
social isolation. According to the National Institute of Health statistics, most are idle as much as 90% of their waking hours. Some 70% of nursing home residents have no contact with family and 50% never have a visitor. At least one-half of the individuals in nursing homes have some form of dementia funding cuts in healthcare have caused nursing homes and assisted living facilities to limit services for residents to the provision of custodial care, and thus social activities, including music, are very limited, or not available at all.

The Texas Heritage Music Foundation continues to enrich the quality of life for these individuals through the singing of songs and the telling of stories. There have been several examples of residents, supposedly wheel-chair bound, rising from their chairs to dance to the live music. Many sing and clap, in rhythm, despite the fact that they are generally completely uncommunicative. One resident, with a severe neurological brain disorder that delays her speech and motor control, was seen singing every word and clapping to the beat to "You Are My Sunshine."

Goals for the residents include:

• Increased communication

• Enhanced mood and sensory stimulation

• Improved memory and recall

• Increased socialization