"Human beings are affected by their environment; in domains other than medical care, such as supermarkets and restaurants, it is a matter of course to use music to develop a relaxed milieu for the customers."  

Hans Ragneskog, RNT; et al. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, Vol. 10, 1996)

On this page we will attempt to address the interests of the Administrators of Convalescent Hospitals. We believe that an active music program can dramatically improve not only the quality of life for your residents and staff, but also can improve your bottom line. We think this is your basic win-win situation and we hope to engage the Administrative community in a dialogue to address their reservations and concerns.

What a quality music program can do for you:

* Increase your profits significantly (a .5% increase in expenses [based on revenue] can potentially result in a 20% increase in total revenue) by improving your occupancy rate. See Table Below.
* Give you a substantial competitive edge by providing something that improves the quality of life for your residents, a "something" that no other facility has at this time.
* Increase the percentage of private pay patients that make up your highest profit source. Where would you rather go for your last days--to a facility that has a quality live music show every day and good recorded music, or to a facility that has a decent show once a month and often plays bad music the rest of the time?

Let's look at what music can do for residents and staff:

* Give them something to look forward to
* Provide a pleasant environment
* Entertain residents
* Produce a calming effect on troublesome patients
* Improve appetite and sleep patterns
* Give the staff a pleasant experience in the midst of a very difficult job
* Reduce drug use for many patients - see Music Therapy page for more information

We believe that the cumulative effect from all of these factors, and others we haven't thought of yet,  can make your facility a more desirable place to be, and therefore, increase your occupancy rate! After all, what can different facilities advertise to make their hospital stand out from others? They all have 24-hour nursing staff; they provide three meals a day and clean rooms. These are all mandated by the regulations governing hospital care. What you can do is give your residents something they don’t get in other facilities--a professional live music show every day, combined with appropriate recorded music during meals, exercise periods, and at bedtime.

One of the greatest fears, it seems, of the elders in our society is that they will spend the last days of their lives in "an old folks' home".  In fact, in a recent interview with AARP, Ted Turner was quoted as saying, "I don't want to be shuttled off to an old folks' home.  That's my greatest fear, the absolute worst nightmare to me.  My mother was in an old folks' home; it gives me the willies." [Modern Maturity; Sept/Oct 2000].   If someone like Ted Turner--with his wealth and influence--can feel this way, what must the average person feel?  We believe a positive high-quality music program can dramatically change the atmosphere in your facility.

We acknowledge that we are not well-versed in the trials and tribulations of running a convalescent hospital, and that some of our ideas may seem naive.  We ask your indulgence and hope you can see the benefits of what we are suggesting.

Let's look at the present level of funding for live music. The  standard for live entertainment in nursing homes is $1/bed/month, or the equivalent of one movie and a fast food meal PER YEAR. I’ve heard this number from different sources and it seems to be consistent with the typical budgets that Activity Directors work with. Many facilities have entertainment budgets of $100-$150/month and will typically pay an amateur $25/show 4 times a month and one professional entertainer $50 once a month. Then they have volunteers "entertain" as often as they can to fill out their schedule. The result is that the residents often get one decent show a month and often have to bear with some very bad music for the rest of the month. We would ask you when was the last time you went to listen to an amateur entertainer. We’ve heard many of the folks who regularly entertain and, while we commend their heart and effort, they are generally not very talented.

What’s even more of an insult is that the residents know the difference between good music and bad music, but they have no power to improve the situation. They grew up with live music and it was an important part of their lives. For many of them, this is all they have. They can’t play bingo because their minds aren't as sharp as they used to be. They can’t do Arts and Crafts because their hands don’t work as well as they used to. They can’t do exercise or even pay attention to programs like current events and travelogues. But they can ALL enjoy music, especially good music from their teenage and young adult years --music from the 20s to the 40s.

They should have more quality live music and recorded music because it’s often the only thing that makes them feel good, and their lives don't contain much that does make them feel good.

Now let's talk money. What is the most important number that affects your bottom line,your profit? Occupancy rate!! Your maximum profit comes at 100% occupancy. Those last few beds that are filled, especially with private pay patients, are the ones that make the most money. How can you fill those beds? The same way that the hotels in Las Vegas try to fill their rooms--by giving the people something they want: good entertainment. If Aunt Lucy was headlining at the MGM Grand, they wouldn’t have as many people coming to stay in their hotel. As we said above, all facilities have to offer the same services--nursing care, meals, clean sheets, etc. Some do it better than others, but they are all on the same playing field.

If your facility can boast the presence of an active music program that really entertains the residents and provides them 24-hour recorded music and one professional quality live show every day, you will have something no other facility has and you will have a competitive edge. You will get more private pay patients because your facility will be more pleasant to be in, and you will make more money.

How much does it cost? A 5-CD changer costs about $150. Twenty appropriate CDs cost $400. So, for about $550 you can have music playing in the Activity Room that the residents will enjoy. Instead of listening to soap operas blaring on the television or rock ‘n roll on a $20 tape deck, they can listen to their favorite music all day. Soothing music for meals, up-tempo music for exercise programs, sing-a-long music for daily activities.

Now the live show every day--what does that entail? Let’s say you have a professional musician five times a week for $100 a show (typical rate for a retirement home). Your yearly budget would be approximately $25,000/year. For that you would get a resident population that had something to look forward to almost every day, as well as something that makes the staff a little happier. One of our main goals is to do the research that shows what a dramatic effect quality music could have on a daily basis. So far, all of our information comes from the experiences we’ve had doing these shows. But we can tell you that a good live show can change these environments into parties where the residents laugh, sing, dance, tell stories and come alive. We see this at every facility during every show--some more dramatic than others--but always a significant effect from the music. This is based on only one show a month. We can only imagine what the effect would be from a show every day. The residents always ask "When are you coming back"? I say next month and they consistently say "How come such a long time"? They can never get enough good music.

We offer the following information as a start to the discussion and, again, acknowledge that we are not business savvy in what it takes to run a nursing home. As a creditor in a recent bankruptcy case involving a large nursing home corporation we were sent some financial figures that we present for your review. To summarize, a 0.5% increase in expenses for music has the potential to increase revenues by 20% and income by 178%.