It seems music is the best thing that has ever happened to Margaret O'Leary, 80, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease a year ago.
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Each day is no longer peachy, says her loving husband and carer, Denis O'Leary, 82. But he continues to stand by her side, having been together for more than 60 years.
The couple takes part every Tuesday at the Sing Out Choir, a therapeutic activity for people in the Dubbo-Orana region living with dementia.
Mr O'Leary had his arm wrapped around Margaret as they sat together at David Palmer hall on the grounds of the old Lourdes Hospital on Cobbora Road.
"This week, she's having trouble doing up her bra, but the hair is not a trouble as yet but it's coming on slowly," he said.
"She's had a pretty rough week, we had to go to the hospital for four weeks with upset stomach and infections."
The pianist, Sharon Simons, keyed in one of The Beatles' early 60s hits, Ain't She Sweet, one of the songs so familiar to the couple.
Margaret and Denis shared a copy of the lyrics and together sang along to the lively tune with the rawness of glee showing on their faces.
"Oh, ain't she sweet? Well, see her walking down that street, yes, I ask you very confidentially, ain't she sweet?"
One can hear their voices floating up the street, having a blast of the past.
"It's been pretty hard," a teary Mr O'Leary says afterward.
The couple moved out of their family-run organic livestock and mixed grain farm at Elong to the Orana Gardens home for seniors in Dubbo.
Volunteer Camilla Ward waves her hand like an orchestra conductor when Memphis Minnie's Has Anybody Seen My Guy played out.
Every Tuesday at 11am, Mrs O'Leary looks forward to going out to the hall to sing with other dementia patients, calling themselves the 'Sing Out Choir'.
Past the Blue Mountains, the choir run by the Western NSW Local Health District's dementia counsellor, Anne Gemmell, is the only one that exists. There are four in Sydney and one in Canberra, so far.
With statistics gathered by Alzheimer's Australia reflecting a growing number of 487,500 living with the disease across the country, and a projected increase of 29,350 by 2028, Ms Gemmell said it was no wonder participant numbers grew "from strength to strength."
"We're averaging around 60 people every Tuesday which is wonderful to see. It's amazing, people are just embracing it," she said.
Ms Gemmell initiated the program early this year as an activity for people with dementia living in their own homes around the Dubbo region.
At least 60 per cent of those diagnosed with dementia live in the community, and the rest live in aged care facilities.
Singers and musicians have lined up to sing with the group, and with so much joy, Ms Gemmel said.
"It's a great mix of people, so very inclusive and we welcome anyone that wants to come along, it's an uplifting, happy, fun environment," she said.
"Their carers are telling me they go home [after choir practice] and all they talk about is the choir next week. All they want to do is come back to the choir...the changes are remarkable."
"We need to embrace dementia and work with it through music which is like a medicine for their brain."
- Western NSW Local Health District dementia counsellor Anne Gemmell
Ms Gemmell said when she designed the program, the idea was around encouraging people to accept that dementia "was just like heart disease and diabetes" that afflicts a swathe of Australians.
"We need to embrace dementia and work with it through music which is like a medicine for their brain. It helps their journey and it slows down the journey by engaging in activities that stimulate the brain," she said.
After taking part in the choir, the singers have shown they remain "upbeat up to 48 hours before it peters off."
"They love getting up to sing with us, singing these old songs...it's incredible what music does," she said.
"We have people with extremely limited verbal communications ability who will sing out the whole song.
"After two months with the choir, those who have displayed aggressive behaviour, absconding and wandering, have settled in. They're happy to be singing."
On April 30, 2023 the choir will perform at the Dubbo Regional Theatre and Convention Centre, and Ms Gemmell said they are inviting the public to be part of a unique musical show everyone will surely enjoy.
