“What we hear from people who have been diagnosed with dementia is this: ‘other people stop looking us in the eye; they stop calling us by name; they cease physical contact; and they stop expecting anything from us’.”

These were the words of Mary Lenard, co-director of the Giving Voice Initiative in Minneapolis – the model upon which Jonathan and I are basing our Good Memories Encore choir, for people with dementia, singing together with their care partners.  Before starting Giving Voice three years ago, Mary worked for 10 years for the Alzheimer’s Association.  In addition, she was a caretaker for her mother who suffered from dementia; Mary speaks from years of professional and personal experience. It’s as if, after a diagnosis of dementia, people almost become invisible.

“People stop looking them in the eye, they stop expecting anything from them…”. Those words echoed in our minds last week as Jonathan and I spent two days with Giving Voice, learning and gathering resources from their staff.  We came away excited about and even more committed to our project – the launch of our first choir this September.

We talked a lot with Giving Voice about the culture of our choirs; their three dementia choirs and our seven choirs for older adults, and we were struck by the similarities.  Both of our cultures are about creating a community—sharing our love of music, sharing the experience of coming together to work hard and stretch ourselves in order to prepare for our concerts, supporting each other through our personal struggles and challenges.  As Encore expands to include Good Memories, and welcomes the courageous people who live with the new reality of dementia, as well as their courageous care partners who journey with them, we are committed to be a place where everyone matters, where every singer’s voice is valued, where our song is one of care and respect of each other.  Everyone matters.  Much is expected of all of us.  No one is invisible.