IMS Students collecting music devices for nursing home residents

A  class at Iowa Mennonite School is working to provide used digital audio devices to residents at a Kalona nursing home.

Jane Schlabaugh, who teaches the digital citizenship class at IMS, said she and the students have so far collected six devices and are looking for more.

'My mother lived in a nursing home in Kalona and passed away in October,” she said. 'I saw a lot of patients who were extremely bored, but when they had opportunities to interact with music, their behavior changed.”

Schlabaugh said music 'often evokes memories from the past,” which can be helpful with patients with dementia.

However, many nursing homes do not have audio devices that residents can use. So Schlabaugh approached her students with the idea of downloading music from the Internet onto digital audio devices, such as iPods. The class, which consists of 10 students, looks online for 'old hymns or polkas or any other kind of music a senior citizen might like,” she said.

Schlabaugh said the project allows the students to incorporate some of the principles they are learning about topics such as copyrights, ethics and viruses. Part of the assignment is to test the device and make step-by-step instructions on how to use it.

The students also are able to recycle items that would otherwise end up in the trash.

'All of these devices hold a considerable amount of heavy metals that could end up going into landfills,” Schlabaugh said. 'It would be nice to keep them out of the waste stream and recycle them in a way that would benefit someone in the community.”

Schlabaugh said there is a box outside the main office at IMS where they are collecting the devices, which need to be in working order and have a charger. She said iPod Shuffles and Minis work particularly well, especially if they can be clipped onto an item of clothing.

'I would imagine that if people in our community would like to donate devices, I'm confident I could find students that would be willing to download the music,” Schlabaugh said.