Audiogon Helping Hands ~ Jeff Rinker

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination
and life to everything.”  Plato

We’ve all experienced it – you’re having a rough day, and then a song comes on the radio that somehow transforms everything around you.  Your shoulders feel a little lighter, your heart rate speeds up, maybe you even start to move a bit.  Music has been scientifically proven to have profound physiological effects on the human body it’s no wonder that it’s been used for thousands of years to aid healing.  Hippocrates, the father of medicine, even prescribed it for his patients around 400 BCE!

Our newest Audiogon Helping Hand, jrinkerptdnet, is uniquely aware of the effect music has upon the body, having worked in a skilled nursing home for several years.  Here is what he wrote:

I work for Pleasant Valley Manor, a non-profit 501(c)3 skilled nursing facilty/rehab center in northeast Pennsylvania. We are a county affiliated facility caring for the elderly since 1924. 

Music and movies play a large roll in the lives of many of our residents both short-term and long-term. If any of you have ever had a loved one reside in a nursing facility you know how important it is for the minds of these individuals to remain stimulated – music and movies are two methods used to actively promote this stimulation!

Last year, two AudiogoN members made donations to the facility – one a HUGE entertainment center for our activities room and another a modified Sony CD changer. The residents of our facility have received many hours of enjoyment from both in the form of “movie night” and also the music played throughout the day.

While we solicit donations from the local community, the economy of Monroe County is such that we have seen a large drop from previous years. The intent for this years donations was to purchase a large numer of flat screen LCD TV’s for the resident rooms to replace the current crop of CRT’s. 

ANY donations of cash or equipment that could be auctioned would be greatly appreciated. The donations would be used for the purchase of the resident TV’s and would be fully tax deductible – a donation letter would be supplied for that purpose. If anyone wished to donate an actual LCD TV, the exterior dimensions of the set cannot exceed 25 inches in width (height and depth are not an issue).

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this post … I hope all are having a great summer!

Jeff Rinker

If you would like to get in touch with the staff at Pleasant Valley Manor, you can contact them through their website.  Audiogon thanks member jrinkerptdnet for bringing our attention to this important cause.

Are you an Audiogon Helping Hand?  Let us know by clicking this link.

Leave a comment