SAN ANTONIO – A local Girl Scout is helping bring focus back for some dementia patients through music.
McKenna Albrecht started helping senior citizens get their minds in tune though music with her 90-year-old grandmother, Hilda Albrecht, who suffered a stroke earlier this year.
"I'm working on my memory, trying to remember the words (to songs), so it's helping," said Hilda Albrecht.
The project is helping the Boerne Champion High School student earn a Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest achievement in the organization.
"I visit 10 seniors that I am working with and play for them and sing for them. It's a lot of fun. I really enjoy it," McKenna said.
One of McKenna's clients, Minnie Garcia, 94, said she thinks music can mend the mind and heal the heart for people suffering loss and loneliness late in life.
"I love music, love dancing, and love people, and it all intertwines, it all comes together," Garcia said.
McKenna said she plans to have a library of songs from yesteryear on cellphones and CD's for residents at St. Francis Nursing Home.
She's talking with officials at a nursing home in Austin who are interested in her project.