The Alzheimer's Project, a new four part documentary on Alzheimer's, will air on HBO May 10-12. My friend Chuck Jackson and his care partner Marianne will be featured in the Caregivers segment. There is also a segment more focused on people with memory loss, one on science and one hosted by Maria Shriver on what it feels like to be the child or grandchild of someone with Alzheimer's.
These segments, along with 15 supplemental films and a glossary, will be available on the HBO site after May 12th. A companion book is in the works.
The HBO site says this project is "changing the way America thinks about Alzheimer's disease." We'll see if these documentaries really help us take a fresh look at memory loss.
Thank you for mentioning this, Mona! I'd forgotten about mentioning it, after our "conversation" on it. I will, of course, be watching it.
Posted by: Gail Rae Hudson | May 01, 2009 at 09:37 PM
Call me a cynic but, isn't it interesting that this series is being run pn Mother's Day + 2?
Not that I'm cynical about the program before seeing it (just a little edgy about the ads) but, you know, I hadn't been "following" Mother's Day, this year, until earlier this week. That's when it hit me that the begins on Mother's Day. My guess is that the promoters will find a more sympathetic audience among people who are celebrating their mothers but, the more I think about it, the more I wonder if people might be just as likely to ignore the series because the last weekend they want to contemplate the possibility (or the reality) of their mothers having Alzheimer's is Mother's Day weekend. It'll be interesting to see how widely the series is watched.
See you there, Mona.
Posted by: Gail Rae Hudson | May 09, 2009 at 11:58 PM