Interview with Sean Geehan
Gary Barg: Sean, I’m intrigued as to know how you came up with the idea of MemaRang.
Sean Geehan: During the pandemic, we started working with assisted living and senior living facilities delivering air purification systems. We ended up working with a couple of hundred facilities over the last two years. We went around to a few dozen of these facilitie
s, and asked the leaders whether it be the executive director or the chief nursing officer, or some comparable leader, “What is the major problem you are having difficulty solving?” A consistent answer was resident engagement and loneliness. Which was a problem even before Covid. We read about 80 research papers on the topic, and through that, came up with MemaRang.
If a senior has any type of memory loss, we obviously can't reverse these conditions, but can we do anything to slow it down or create tools that can enhance some capability? Can we empower the caregiver to unleash those attributes that would give them some level of engagement and connection?
In response, we essentially layered reminiscence therapy on top of familiar games, in order to bring those two worlds together. Music, obviously, brings joy to people, as does games. Hopefully, it's a one plus one equals three type of a situation.
We utilize games they're familiar with, so they don't have to spend time teaching a game. And music bridges multi-generations and connects people in in a way that probably nothing else does.
Gary Barg: Ultimately, what market does MemaRang best serve?
Sean Geehan: We started off really focusing on memory care. What we learned was for assisted living, it kind of, jazzes things up. We also see grandkids interviewing their grandparents with our tools and enjoying family time together. So, it really runs the gamut which includes homecare, as well.
Gary Barg: Sean, can you give me some examples of how residents react and respond to MemaRang?
Sean Geehan: Sure. We have a game that involves 40’s and 50’s TV show theme songs, for instance, and matches it to a Bingo game. People do a lot of sing-alongs, and it's a blast. The surprise has been how engaged men have been, as we all know they're a much more difficult audience with which to connect. So, everyone can meet together, learn together, and have fun together. This has drawn them in because we have a lot of Western themes and things like that which they had an emotional connection to.
On the memory care side, you could see people who were not connecting at all until we played some of these songs and they start tapping their feet and moving along with the music. They also smile. When we send tapes of this interactions to family members, they all start crying because they haven't seen that level of emotion, or connection in their loved ones for many months. That is extremely fulfilling to the whole team. It's like magic.
Gary Barg: I can see how good it is for residents to be playing together and being involved. It's a real connectivity device that can help to beat isolation.
Sean Geehan: You're spot on. I say Bingo, because everybody knows it, but we have this game called Roll And Share, where we all take turns rolling a dice, and the dice matches to a question. So, we also get to know each other better. For people just coming into a facility, they get to know their neighbors and the caregiver that rolls the dice with the resident gets an opportunity to know them and make a connection. The bottom line is that most of the games are designed to connect people, at an individual level or in a small group setting.
Gary Barg: I think MemaRang is really beneficial to staff involvement in long-term care settings, in adult daycare centers, or any place seniors congregate.
Sean Geehan: Absolutely and that's why we called it MemaRang, it's like a boomerang effect of your memory. As an example of reminiscence therapy, just think about when you were ever driving down the highway and you hear a familiar song for the first-time in decades. You remember every word, every beat, or whatever it might be in that song; and you knew where you were the first time you heard it. Or a great emotional time whether you were at a dance, or with a friend, or at your wedding. It’s amazing; it draws you right back. That's the power of music. We try to intertwine that with the joy of games which also carries happy memories with them.
Gary Barg: I love the fact that it connects facility staff to their residents, and more than they've connected before. And I love what it does to help potentially strengthen our loved one’s cognition.
Sean Geehan: It's also getting picked up a lot by private duty agencies, companion programs and respite. We are so excited when we see this unfold in front of us, and hopefully, those who would get a chance to experience it will have the same results. And we're always looking for feedback and excited about the launch, which is happening now.
We couldn't be more thrilled with the response we're getting, and the support from people like you who have been in the industry for so long, and are able to give us a voice and let us share this story with your readers and subscribers. Thank you so much.