BOSTON — A Massachusetts native who went on to be a renowned flutist and journalist is now using her talents to help people with Alzheimer’s and dementia disease deal with quarantine.
Music has been a tool for Eugenia Zuckerman to find solace through much of her life and as many seniors find themselves in isolation during the pandemic, she’s trying to share her talent and hoping to share that solace to.
“Music can make people feel so much better and feel like they can go on," Zuckerman said.
Zuckerman is playing free virtual concerts, the last was at Massachusetts General Hospital for their Dementia Care Collaborative and she knows her audience because she has Alzheimer’s.
Zuckerman has tried to tried turn the diagnosis into a blessing from the start.
She explained, “I took out a pencil and pen and started to write."
She wrote about her life called ‘Like Falling through a Cloud,’ before her memory starts to fade.
She’s originally from Cambridge but now lives in upstate New York. She has company and space but realizes that many don’t. She hopes that hearing her music, even virtually, helps others cope with loneliness.
“I believe it with my heart and soul it is everything to me it is a language of its own,” she said.
As researchers work to find a cure for Alzheimer’s, Zuckerman says she will play her music as long as she can.
“There is fantastic work going on to make sure we will be able to find a cure but it’s not going to be easy," she said
She is always trying to focus on the positive explaining, “I wake up every morning and get out of bed and think thank God I have another day.”
Zuckerman said it was her children that first noticed her symptoms, she was hesitant to first admit something was wrong, but they pushed her to get to a doctor. She is grateful she sought help early and said that that is why she has been able to do so much even as her disease progresses.
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