Meet the Police Officer Who Uses His Violin to Bring Comfort to Dementia Patients and Alzheimer’s Communities
See how one man’s violin brings comfort and joy to Alzheimer’s patients—and why it means so much
Alexander Strachan’s grandmother had been living with Alzheimer’s disease for several years, and she had reached the point where she couldn’t verbalize much and often didn’t recognize her family.
One day in 2009, when she was in the hospital, Alexander brought his violin—an instrument he had been playing since age 10—and played “How Great Thou Art,” one of his grandmother’s favorite hymns. She had grown up singing and playing the piano in church and, hearing that familiar music, she perked up and started singing along.
Wow, I need to do this more often, thought Alexander, of Bowie, Maryland.
And then it occurred to Alexander: If Grandma reacts to music this way, maybe other people with dementia will too.
Finding healing through music for Alzheimer’s patients
That thought stayed with Alexander as he attended Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and spent time in Japan as an arts missionary.
Then, about 10 years ago, back in the States, Alexander started Healing Strings Studio, whose purpose is to bring music to people in much-needed places. He also gives violin lessons. And just as he did for his grandmother, who has since passed, Alexander plays his violin for nursing home residents.
In 2020, Alexander, now 33, married and a dad of a toddler son, became a police officer for Maryland-National Capital Park Police, but he never put down his violin and even began playing in uniform, as a supervisor-approved way to humanizing the badge. Playing also helps him decompress from the stresses of his job.
Hillary Gibbons—vibrant living director of Brightview Senior Living Community in Severna Park—loves seeing the residents’ feet tap and hands move as Officer Alexander plays his music for them.
Alexander remembers a touching moment when he played for a man nearing death, who had played the violin for 80 years. Alexander was honored to be able to grant the man’s request to hold a violin one last time.
“It makes me want to keep playing,” Alexander says. “It makes the instrument feel special…like what I bring to the instrument matters. It’s crazy. I think about, literally, how it’s just an instrument. It’s wood, glue and horsehair, yeah. But it helps bring worlds together.”
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