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A Profile on Coro Health
Coro Health, a digital therapeutics company was founded in Austin, TX, in 2009. The company was founded for the single purpose of bringing clinically proven therapeutic music and spiritual support to individuals within a healthcare community. Today, through two cornerstone products, MusicFirst and CoroFaith, the company supports millions of individuals in long-term care communities by providing music therapy for seniors and hospital patients.
MusicFirst offers clinically proven therapeutic music programs that were specifically created to support outcomes such as awake, sleep, energy, and relaxation for older adults and hospital patients. It provides a wide range of support for other activities through a music library with more than 20,000 original artist recordings. CoroFaith provides more than 1000 hours of multi-denominational religious and spiritual support audio programs.
This blog shares the inspiration behind Coro Health, its key components, and the reasons why every senior living provider should consider offering the products to their residents.
What Inspired Coro Health Music Therapy?
Coro Health was created from purpose, mission, and mindfulness to provide residents and care staff of senior living communities with clinically proven non-pharmacological treatment alternatives. It addresses two critical issues across Independent Living, Assisted Living, & Memory Care.
#1 Outcome-Driven Therapeutic Music
If you have spent time within long-term care, you already understand the need for outcome-based, therapeutic music that supports an individual’s mental and physical wellbeing. Yet music therapists are in short supply and extremely costly. Furthermore, the radio and streaming services play songs based on popularity with no clinical or therapeutic foundation for song structure and order
Although every community would love to have a Music Therapist on staff, the reality is they are in short supply and can be outside of budgetary constraints. Therefore, a less expensive option that provides music programming specifically designed for its clinical benefits for older adults, is a great option to consider.
#2 Residents’ Require Spiritual Support
Seniors in healthcare settings are often displaced from their spiritual support system. This can leave older adults feeling a bit isolated. There’s little doubt that this phenomenon has only been exacerbated by COVID-19.
If they want to hear a spiritual message or reading, they must independently find radio programs and monitor play schedules. If they have access to streaming services they must seek content that is relevant to their current situation. Traditional faith-based app services tend to appeal to younger generations and current events. This may not be what an individual is seeking based on their current circumstances in their journey of life.
Simply put, senior living residents deserve meaningful spiritual support options they can easily access and control. Offering music therapy may have a positive effect on those living in a senior care facility.
What Does Coro Health Provide?
Coro Health was created in response to these challenges. The first offering was MusicFirst, a library of more than 2,000 hand-crafted therapeutic music programs curated by neuroscientists, music therapists, and music designers. These therapeutic music programs are purposefully driven to support daily living and activities.
- Supportive Music of Wake, Energy, Relax, Sleep
- Music Trivia
- Activity Music
- Dining Music
Each therapeutic music program was designed to foster positive support through specific activities, environments, or events while reducing the need for pharmacological intervention.
MusicFirst was soon followed up by CoroFaith. This provided spiritual and religious support for individuals across a broad spectrum of traditions, communities, and beliefs. The audio streams draw from 1,000+ hours of prayers, sermons, scripture, meditation, and more. It has become the largest database of spiritual and religious content addressing interfaith needs within a senior living community.
What’s the Science Behind The Healing Power of Music?
Our ancestors believed that music had the power to harmonize a person’s soul in ways that medicine could not.
In ancient China, one of music’s earliest purposes was for healing. In fact, the Chinese character for medicine actually comes from the same character for music. Later, they discovered the relationship between the pentatonic scale, the five elements, and the human body’s five internal and five sensory organs. And during Confucius’ time, scholars used music’s calming properties to improve and strengthen people’s character and conduct.
Modern scientific research has validated the notion that music can have a generalized restorative effect on the body, mind, and soul, especially for seniors. According to Harvard Health: “The neurobiology of music is a highly specialized field. But music also has major effects on many aspects of health, ranging from memory and mood to cardiovascular function and athletic performance.”
Over the years, various research studies have shown that the right music can:
- Reduce cortisol levels (stress)
- Modify moods
- Sooth pain
- Improve sleep
- Reduce anesthesia
- Boost heart health
- Ease anxiety and depression
- Improve stroke recovery
Knowing the positive impacts music can have on a person, the team at Coro Health decided to take it a step further.
Coro Health Music Prescription™
Coro Health gathered a team of experts—including board-certified music therapists, music designers, and neuroscientists—to purposefully create prescriptive music programs. Each music program consists of multiple songs that are woven together using a proprietary process that includes breaking down each song into 9 key elements and then arranging those songs into musical clusters based on the purpose of the program. Each cluster then represents a specific outcome-based program. The end result is a series of outcome-based music programs crafted and properly sequenced with the knowledge of the emotional, psychological, physiological, and behavioral nature of people.
The proprietary Music Prescription™ building process was developed over the years of individually monitoring the physiological and emotional responses to different program creation techniques. Once sufficient data was collected on the process, a clinical trial was conducted and verified the process and expected results.
Their creation follows a three-step program:
- Music Prescription Builder breaks songs into 9 key elements
○ Example: Genre, key, texture, lyrics, and more - Songs are then assigned to a specific outcome-based cluster
○ Example: Energy -> Country -> 80s Country - Clusters are then reviewed by a therapist or designer and assigned to the program
By carefully tuning the music to the individual, the results have been promising. A randomized controlled clinical trial on Coro Health1 found that residents treated with a therapeutic prescription experienced a:
- 75% reduction in agitation during dining
- 66% increased participation in activities
- 42% increased appetite
- 58% increased ability to wake up
- 29% decrease in wandering
The study concluded that the prescriptions had healing benefits that could help:
- Reduce medication use
- Alleviate depression
- Reduce pain perception
- Incite cognitive stimulation
- Increase social interaction
- Provide spiritual support
- Aid indigestion
- Improve sleep
- Increase heart health
The Impact
David Schofman, CEO of Coro Health, notes “The power of individualized music and media is not just a research-driven theory; it’s something we see every day in our partner facilities across the country.”
- Carl had anxiety when he played games like solitaire. He often became short-tempered and grouchy with staff. Carl was a lover of ‘70s music. So, his care team played a ‘70s-based music prescription. From the moment it was plugged in, staff noticed an instant change in his demeanor—his face lit up, he was smiling, relaxed, and more responsive to conversation. The music tapped into something that completely changed him for the better.
- George wasn’t eating. He’d just stopped. His nurse became worried and reached out to see if a breakfast program could help. Once it was finished, Mr. George’s nurse played it and then served him breakfast. Instantly, he started bobbing his head and digging into his food. He ate more in one sitting than he had in two whole weeks!
- Mr. D had anger issues. He had to live alone because he wouldn’t get along with his roommates. No one on staff could help. As a result, he stayed in his room all day, isolated and angrier than ever. Staff tried to help by playing a “relax” program. His response: “Turn it up, and leave it on.” Now, it’s become a part of his daily routine and is one of the only ways he’ll engage.
And those are just a few of the positive responses. Leah Gage, administer of San Gabriel Rehabilitation and Care Center, had this to say:
“As an Administrator in long-term care, I have seen the significant impact that Coro Health has, not just on the resident, but the entire facility. I had the benefit of enjoying this product in one of my previous homes and now I am thrilled that I can bring it to my current facility. Coro Health does an incredible job. It is more than a playlist, it is a healing experience.”
Why Your Community Needs Coro Health
Coro Health is a powerful tool you can use to improve your senior living community’s offering. It provides residents with significant value in both the short and long term—mentally, emotionally, behaviorally, and physically—addressing both the need for music therapy and spiritual connection.
But that’s not all Coro Health does, nor all that it plans to do. For instance, they released an entire library of music programming called Soundscapes2. This new program includes naturally calming sounds like ocean waves, tranquil forests, winding rivers, rainstorms, nature’s symphony, and nature’s strings.
Today, you have an opportunity to use Coro Health through Sentrics. It is built into the Engage360 solution and is available to any community resident that leverages this whole-health engagement platform. As Schofman said, “We are on the cusp of a very exciting culture change in long-term care facilities and services, benefitting both patients and caregivers alike.”
Are you ready to see the change it will bring?
Sources:
- Harvard Health Publishing. Music and health. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/music-and-health * You need to pay to see full article
- NCBI. The Effect of Music on the Human Stress Response. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3734071/
- Coro Health Clinical Trial Summary of Results, https://corohealth.com/results-benefits/
- PR Newswire. Coro Health to Deliver Free, Clinically Proven Therapeutic Music and Spiritual Support Services During the COVID-19 Crisis. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/coro-health-to-deliver-free-clinically-proven-therapeutic-music-and-spiritual-support-services-during-the-covid-19-crisis-301053238.html