4MBS Silver Memories
Special radio services for aged care homes and socially isolated elderly people in the community.
Music Broadcasting Society of Queensland Ltd is a not for profit arts organisation operating three community radio services in Brisbane including Silver Memories, a special service for aged care homes and socially isolated elderly people in the community. Their Silver Memories program aims to improve the wellbeing of residents in aged care, addressing social isolation, depression and the effects of dementia using appropriate music from the 1920’s to 1950’s.
2015 Pitch
Funds raised: $38,950
4MBS Silver Memories pitched to TFN and raised $38,950. This funding enabled the radio station to increase the online resources available in the aged care homes, resulting in greater engagement with Diversional Therapists through a range of new activities.
The impact...
“How do you reach someone who no longer recognises you?” asked Gary Thorpe in his pitch to TFN in June 2015. The answer, for many people with dementia, is music. In the next couple of decades in Australia, an alarming one million people will be affected by dementia. Gary is the General Manager of 4MBS Classic FM and has researched the use of music in the management of dementia. As a result, Silver Memories – broadcast on 4MBS – is a world first and answers a pressing need, using the power of music 24 hours a day to address social isolation, depression and the effects of dementia in aged care homes across Australia. Broadcasting of music from the 1920s to the 1950s triggers happy memories and acts as “reminiscent therapy.”
Following the pitch for online resources, funds also went towards direct research and collaboration efforts with Diversional Therapists, recognising the core role these therapists play in the treatment and quality of life of people in aged care homes. Silver Memories estimates that the number of direct beneficiaries of the facility, accessed directly and through the power of radio, currently exceeds 20,000 and this number is climbing. This includes residents of aged care homes in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria and people in the community in Brisbane.
One resident of a North Queensland aged care home whose 100-year-old life story was shared through poetry on Silver Memories said that the day she sat listening to the broadcast of her poem with her children was the happiest day of her life. Her poem was later printed and framed by the care home. Silver Memories continues to make this difference at the forefront by using music to create a more pleasant living environment for people with dementia and others in aged care homes.
Debbie Price, Silver Memories Coordinator, introducing the new website and improvements to the online resources...
Read their Impact Report
Learn more about 4MBS Silver Memories.
Supporting Sustainable Development Goal:
