Health is Wealth programme 16 - 20aug2024

Carmel Geoghegan, founder of Dementia Ireland, and Carl Corcoran, a songwriter, collaborated on a songwriting project for people with dementia. The song, titled "We Will Tell Everyone," was created with input from individuals living with dementia and their carers. It conveys the message that living with dementia is still living a full life. The song has received positive feedback and is being translated and shared globally. Music therapy has shown to have a powerful impact on individuals with dementia, even those who are non-verbal. The hope is that this project will raise awareness and highlight the importance of music in dementia care. I have on the line, I should have two people on the line with me here, I hope I do, Carmel Geoghegan, who is the founder and an advocate for Dementia Ireland. So first of all, I'll check with you, Carmel, you're there, okay? Yeah, I'm here. And I should also, on the other line, have Carl Corcoran, who's a songwriter and a University of Limerick Emeritus Lecturer. So are you there, Carl? Can you hear me and Carmel? I can hear you, Marion, yeah, and a big Freddie White fan, too. Oh, good! Okay, so where would I go first? Maybe to you, Carmel, from Dementia Ireland, because obviously you are offering supports and services to people with dementia. And we'll come to Carl afterwards, because I've just found out about the song that has been written by people who have dementia, which I think is a very interesting concept. So first of all, Carmel, maybe just a general bit about Dementia Ireland, and more importantly, how you came to work with Carl on this. Yeah, well, I set up Dementia Ireland a number of years ago, because I live in Connemara, and my mum had mixed dementia, and there were no services. It was a very frustrating time for us. So when she passed away, I thought, oh, and just build on what I'd learned, and kind of just build awareness of what it means. And we all have this, well, I did anyway at the time, we have this vision that it's older people, and a lot of medical people kept insisting that it was the aging process, which it isn't. So from that, I worked with Forum Connemara and various global rural development and different organizations in the West to build awareness, to have information events, and to let people know that you could be diagnosed in your 30s, it has nothing to do with aging, but that if with the right supports and services, you can remain very active in your community. And, of course, as well, that there are several types of dementia, Alzheimer's being the most common. So also from that, I met up with Helen Rochford Brennan, who was the first person to go public in Ireland with her Alzheimer's diagnosis. And we worked together, so we were telling both sides of the story, living with the actual diagnosis, and then from the family carer perspective and what can be done, and staying connected in your community. So this project with Carl and Lisa Kelly, who was doing her PhD, came from that through the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland. Lisa had reached out looking for people to get involved. So Helen and myself, and then a couple, Nuala and Gerry from Dublin, and Gerry has Alzheimer's, and Kevin and Helena from Cork, and Kevin has Lewy body. So that's how we all came together, and we met in Limerick. So I'll let Carl tell the story. Okay, right. Would you like to come in there, Carl? Sure, Marion. Yeah, as Carmel has mentioned, Lisa Kelly was the connection here between the university and the members of the Dementia Research Advisory Team, who Carmel has listed there. Lisa was doing her PhD research in dementia and living with dementia. Lisa is a graduate of the music therapy department at the Irish World Academy in Limerick, and a colleague of mine because I was at the time the course director of the MA in songwriting. And Lisa felt that the culmination of this research would be appropriate if she got the participants involved in a songwriting experience. Music therapy is an evidence-based profession where music is a key part of the experience for anybody, but in this case with people living with dementia and their supporters and their carers. So she brought me in as a songwriting facilitator for an afternoon with six wonderful individuals who I had never met before, and we sat in a room and we talked about... I suppose I was using the methodology of songwriting workshops in the sense of finding out what the participants wanted to say. And we went through a normal process of, you know, taking out the whiteboard, putting thoughts on the board, discussing what they wanted to say. And Lisa and I, with our, I suppose, skills and crafts in songwriting and music therapy, structured a song around what the individuals wanted to say. So every word of the song is the expression of the individuals concerned. And it was one... What came across so viscerally was this idea that they wanted to tell everyone that living with dementia is a life. And, you know, I think one of the most powerful lines, few lines of the song is in the middle section, which states, we still dance, we still sing, we still laugh, do everything, we still work, we still drive, we are alive. And that was what just filled the room. And, you know, as a songwriter, when you write a song or are involved in writing a song that gives the hairs at the back of your neck the opportunity to stand up, you know that you have something special. And that's what happened that afternoon. And it really went on its own journey from there, Marion. It was a case of, we produced this song in the room with just us singing it, and then we had the idea that we'd do a public performance of it. And it was part of a presentation that Lisa Kelly was... Dr. Lisa Kelly was doing as part of her PhD and we performed it live in the university at the Irish World Academy. And the response and reaction was enormous. It was just heart, heart-filling. And then we decided we'd take it a little further and with the help of the Alzheimer's Society and the Irish World Academy, the music department there, the music therapy department there, we went into the process of recording it professionally. So we involved musicians from the academy, we involved a choir from the academy, but our six participants were the key performers in this recording. And we did a video, put it all together and we released it, whatever that means these days, we just put it into the ether on the 1st of August and it has taken on its own legs. I know you can hear it on YouTube because I actually listened to it this morning and I'm going to play it at the end of this interview so the listeners can hear it. So it's on YouTube, you're not selling it, it's just out there for people to tune into. Absolutely, it's out there free, it's downloadable and YouTube has a beautiful video put together by Scott Robinson, another limbering man, and it just captures the whole journey and the power of the experience and what these individuals wanted to say. I still have such fond memories of that afternoon in the academy, of sitting in that room and just realising the power of this wonderful thing that we had just created. As I say, I listened to it and I'm going to play it for everybody else so they will see it as well. I found it very, very moving, I must say. It is. Just there, Karl, other countries are looking at it where their groups would come together and translate it and use it. We're going to global karma, is it? Yes, we are. It's a great project. Is that just new news that you've just recently got there, Karl? Sorry? Is that just something you've heard very recently because Karl didn't seem to know. Oh, Karl, oh yes. No, no, it's been... Well, there's been contact. People have been contacting Karl. Ah, right, OK, OK. Yeah, yeah. We gave a performance in Mullingar. There's six individuals and myself and Lisa and Steve Ryan from the university. We performed the song at a dementia conference there and one of the participants at the conference was a young lady who was involved in a dementia project in Kenya and she came up to us afterwards and she said, can I get your permission to translate this into Swahili and have it performed by our group? And we said, of course. So that's in progress at the moment. We have nothing to show or play for you but it is certainly something that is on the move and it just indicates the message that can apply to anybody anywhere in the world that is impacted by this dementia and the fact of living with it and the important thing of telling everyone that, you know, we are alive and these people are vibrant. I mean, it was inspiring for me. I'm in full health, thank God, but one never knows. But to be in that room and to feel the energy and the passion that was spoken by all of the individuals, Helen and Carmel and Kevin and Helena and Gerry and Nuala, it was just amazing. Well, it sounds terrific and, you know, I don't think any of my listeners probably who do not know somebody who has dementia of one form or another because, you know, it's all around us and I think if that helps us to understand it better, if the song helps us to understand it better and if hearing these people makes us understand it better, that can only be for good. And some of the people that are non-verbal, Marion, with dementia can actually sing, which is unbelievable as well. So the power of music is just, you know, I don't think we realise unless we actually see it and how it can move people and, you know, it's just an incredible art. So it's something that we're highlighting a lot and this, we're hoping, will just put it on the map that music has to be the centre as well. Right. Well, unfortunately, I do have to leave it there but, of course, I'm not really leaving it because I am going to play the song now but I will say thank you to both Carmel and Carl for joining us this morning. So we'll actually be, you won't be able to hear the next bit. We're going to say goodbye to you and we're going to then put on the piece of music. And, Marion, if anybody calls in to ask any questions, if you want to give them my mobile number in case and I can put them on then to the helpline with the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland as well but if I can help them in Connemara, it's not a problem. There's somebody out there every day looking for help. That's great to hear, Carmel, and I'll give your number to the receptionist here in the radio so that she can give it out if anybody calls in. OK, that's great. So, as I say, we're going to play the piece of music now. It's called We Will Tell Everyone. We Will Tell Everyone A photo captures a moment in time And a lifetime of memories It helps me remember thoughts forgotten Reflections of what used to be We've developed a negative of black and white Turning our life into colour Still with joy and happiness A life that's a whole lot fuller Who will we tell? We will tell everyone I'll continue to be me I'll continue telling everyone We shouted from the rooftops The mountains and the hills Living life to our fullest We do exist Who will we tell? We will tell everyone With family and friends by our side We've been able to make new connections Our memories may fade but emotions stay They help us with our recollections With friends we will know We have your soul Our new journey has begun We will never let go We need everyone to know Our hearts will forever stay on Who will we tell? We will tell everyone I'll continue to be me Still telling everyone We shouted from the rooftops The mountains and the hills Living life to our fullest We do exist Who will we tell? We will tell everyone We still dance We still sing We still laugh Do everything We still work We still try We are alive Who will we tell? We will tell everyone I'll continue to be me Still telling everyone We shouted from the rooftops The mountains and the hills Living life to our fullest We do exist Who will we tell? We will tell everyone Who will we tell? We will tell everyone The song that we were talking about there written by Carl Corcoran from ideas and phrases and so on given to them by people with dementia So a lovely song, if you want to hear it it is on YouTube, the name of it is We Will Tell Everyone You should be able to get it there If you want to talk to Carmel Geoghegan the Advocate for Dementia Ireland Her number is 086 361 2907 and she said she'd welcome calls for people and would try to help anybody who calls