The Rotary Club of Mount Gambier West has recently supplied more than 40 headsets to Boandik for use for clients with dementia.

The headsets are loaded with music that each client has selected for them, often by family members, who can identify music that relates to their earlier experiences and memories.

Club president Ray Herbert said the headsets also featured FM radio and were bluetooth capable, with the club investigating opportunities for music resources through local community station 5GTRFM.

“Through extensive research, it is known the portion of the brain which contains the music memories, is the last are to be affected with degradation due to dementia,” Mr Herbert said.

“As a result, music can be used to engage with clients, where other means are not effective.

“It has also been successfully used as an intervention, in place of medication in certain cases.”

Mr Herbert said the headsets have the additional benefit of been non-intrusive to other clients in a group setting, with a dance class being conducted with each client dancing to ‘the beat of a different drum’ collectively.

“The original project was conducted by the Rotary Club of Geraldton-Greenough, under President Geoff Wood,” Mr Herbert said.

“This project has then been copied around Australia and partnered with Jaycar and Chris Ind of Anvil Electronics locally, for the purchase of the headset and SSD cards.

“The funding of the headsets was from Rotary Club community fundraising and matched by funding through a Rotary Foundation District Grant.

“As a supporter of the foundation we had the opportunity to access foundation monies to support local projects.”