As soon as I heard the Coro Health story several months ago from Brian Anderson, co-founder and President, I knew this company was on the path to success. Today the company is announcing that they’ve raised a $2M round of financing for the company.

Researchers have long known that music and spirituality have therapeutic effects on an individual’s health, but for most healthcare providers, traditional one-on-one therapies have been too costly and difficult to implement. To address the problem, Coro Health, LLC has developed a suite of web-based audio products that delivers individual music prescriptions, spirituality and other media to thousands of residents in long-term care facilities.

The company, which recently raised $2 million in Series A funding from Bob Martin, former CEO of Walmart International, Kent Lance of KPI Austin, and other angle investors, has installed its flagship product, Music First™, in facilities across the country representing more than 1,000 residents, and has entered into clinical trials with the University of California, Davis Center for Mind and Brain to study the therapeutic benefits of music on Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.

With more than 70 million baby boomers projected to enter the long-term care market over the next 20 years, Coro Health’s low-touch technology solution offers caregivers and healthcare professionals a host of new tools that extend and expand current therapeutic programs. Music First, CoroFaith and CoroMedia offer a rich choice of content modules that can be delivered directly to a resident’s room or group activity area and automatically updated via wireless computers and scheduling software.

Prescriptions are developed by a team of board-certified music therapists and music and media designers with content tailored to an individual’s schedule, needs and preferences, in conjunction with their existing plan of care. These therapies can also be extended to group settings to aid cognitive stimulation and socialization. Sample content includes: music, spirituality, education, current events, audio books, and personalized affirmations from local churches and faith groups..

“Our brain research indicates that playing a person familiar music that evokes strong personal memories engages parts of the brain that are important for maintaining a sense of self and experiencing emotions,” said Dr. Petr Janata, a cognitive neuroscientist in the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis, and member of Coro Health’s Medical Advisory Board. “With its ability to deliver personalized music streams, Coro Health’s service is poised to have a significant positive impact on the mental well-being of large numbers of residents in assisted living facilities.”