Page 7 - Legacy Fall Edition 2016_Classical

Percussion Band Strikes

Chord in Walden Court

Beatrice Lampkin, MD, spent 50 years in medicine, and
even in retirement, she’s providing therapy to those in need.

Dr. Lampkin began practicing at Cincinnati Children’s
Hospital Medical Center in 1965 and became director
of the Division of Hematology and Oncology in 1973.
While serving at the hospital, she became a well-known
pediatric cancer specialist. Post-polio syndrome caused
her to retire officially from full-time medical practice in
1991, but she continued to work until 2015.

In between “semi-retirement” and “real retirement,” she ends with “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” The music is
helped start GLAD House in 1998 to support children chosen based on the age of the group.
and families of those addicted to drugs, and she moved
to Twin Lakes in 2005. Now, she’s the voluntary leader of “The medical literature says that individuals with dementia
the Walden Court Percussion Band, using music to help struggle the most at the time of the evening. They call it
residents with memory loss. Sundowner’s Syndrome,” Dr. Lampkin says. “We wanted
to do it then to help them relax.”
Dr. Lampkin and Mary Schwaderer, the first Executive
Director of GLAD House, started the band in September Dr. Lampkin hopes the volunteers’ efforts make a
2015 to improve the lives of Walden Court residents. difference over time, and she speaks in an almost clinical
“When I retired in June of last year, I got a little bored,” sense when discussing those efforts so far. “We’ll find out
she says. “I got on the internet to see what I could do. if it’s going to do any real good,” she says of the program.
I found that music was helpful but I didn’t find anyone “We know it is fun, both for them and for us.”
doing it with rhythm instruments,
which I like.”

Every Thursday evening from
6:30 to 7:30, she and a team of
volunteers distribute instruments
and three song sheets – at
separate times and in large, bold
print – to the residents. Usually,
11 to 15 people participate in a
session with instruments that
include castanets, wooden
maracas, sticks, tambourines
and cymbals.

“We start off always with the
‘Washington Post March,’ then
do other (John Philip) Sousa
marches,” Dr. Lampkin says. The
band typically plays six or seven
marches, intermittently with
other songs, and the program

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A Life Enriching Communities Publication • Fall 2016 5