This letter is to comment on the story headlined, “Can arts help Alzheimer’s patients cope?” (Herald, Jan. 5) The article highlights the use of “alternative” approaches to assisting those afflicted with the disease, “alternative” in this case being non-prescription, non-pharmaceutical therapies.
For those who are interested in learning more about what is being done with this, and seeing some real life examples of how successful something as simple and cost effective as music can be in relieving the horrors that Alzheimer’s patients must endure, watch the documentary “Alive Inside.” It is well-worth the hour and 18 minutes.
While it does leave the viewer with the frustrations that result from having a medical-care system that is addicted to prescribing drugs as the sole way of coping with diseases like Alzheimer’s, it also offers hope that pharmaceuticals are not the only management tool.
Josh Joswick
Bayfield
