May 18, 2009 - Wood “Woody” Geist and his wife, Rosemary, rest in blue wingback chairs near a window, holding hands.

In a courtyard outside, the sun shines and the trees and flowers are in full bloom after a harsh winter. Rosemary leans into Woody, asking him if he would like to sing.
She begins Frank Sinatra’s “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning,” and Woody jumps in, never missing a note. The pair create a beautiful melody as Woody’s voice lowers, “In the wee small hours of the morning, That’s the time you miss her most of all.”

Woody 82, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease 14 years ago and now resides at HarborChase in Auburn Hills, an assisted living community that specializes in memory care.

Woody and his family were featured in the HBO documentary “The Alzheimer’s Project,” produced by Maria Shriver. The four- part series focuses on the disease, which affects 5.3 million people. That number is expected to climb to more than 11 million by 2040 as the baby boomer generation ages.

Woody was filmed in his previous assisted living facility in Rochester for the segment call “Wood’s Song” in “The Memory Loss Tapes” segment which premiered May 10.

“You were on television,” Rosemary tells Woody.

“Really, why was I on the television? What was I doing?” he asks.
In the film, Woody is seen walking and cuddling with another female resident who also suffers from memory loss. Rosemary and the couple’s daughter, Mary Ellen, greet the woman kindly before taking Woody to perform with his old song mates in the a cappella group The Grunyons.
Though Woody has a hard time recalling basic information, somehow he can still remember songs from the big band era and frequently whistles upbeat tunes.

“And he remembers his parts in the music and the words-not a lot of other things. Music has been a salvation,” Rosemary says.

The couple has been married for 58 years and met at the University of Michigan. Woody worked and owned E&E Engineering in Detroit, and earned the key to the city two times for his community service. They have three daughters.

“By the time he was diagnosed, I knew, but I was surprised,” Rosemary said. “It’s all I thought about for a long time-when I was taking a shower or cooking a meal.

In “The Memory Loss Tapes,” some of the seniors appear agitated or scared, and although not sure where he is going, Woody seems content just to be with people.

Sipping on a McDonald’s small chocolate milk shake at HarborChase, he remains cheerful and optimistic, often interjecting, “Aren’t we lucky? Sure we’re lucky” and “You’re wonderful.”
You made a lot of your own luck,” Rosemary says to him.

“He’s the most wonderful man,” she adds. “He’s so polite, he holds doors for me and chairs.”
Mary Ellen, who was a former CBS radio anchor, left her job to help take care of her father while she wrote her book, “Measure of the Heart: A Father’s Alzheimer’s, A Daughter’s Return,” which was published in August 2008.

The family has a summer home in Walloon Lake in northern Michigan and often spends a few months by the lake, though Rosemary doesn’t think it will be possible for Woody to visit this year.
The family moved him to HarborChase in December. The residence offers a homey atmosphere made up of four separate small buildings. There are about 19 residents in each building with a total staff of 65. Woody doesn’t stay in his room often, preferring to be on the go.

He walks around the inside of the facility, which is shaped as a square so that residents can always find their way back.

“I think it (the film) is really going to educate people who don’t know about the disease,” said Leigh North, director of sales at HarborChase. “The knowledge is starting to get here. Alzheimer’s can start as early as the 40s.”

Early onset Alzheimer’s disease can be found in people in their 30s.
The staff keep activities a priority at HarborChase and have different buildings for residents at different stages of memory loss so that they can be with peers of the same memory level.
Facilities like this, however, don’t come cheap and are not covered by insurance. At HarborChase, it can range from $3,000 to $5,000 per month, but once a resident moves in, his or her rate is locked in, no matter if the resident requires additional care over time.

Alzheimer’s and dementia triple healthcare costs for Americans age 65 and older according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

“It’s a very difficult thing,” Rosemary say. “And combined with the economy…what can you do?”
We didn’t expect it- nobody does.

By Valerie West
Of The Oakland Press