Search on here for lost Alzh. sufferer.

Diwundrin

Diwundrin

Well-known Member
Location
Nth Coast NSW Australia
The police choppers are up and vehicles everywhere looking for an elderly man a few blocks from here who went missing early this morning. It's not a big town and that they haven't spotted him is a worry if he headed for the beach.
There's some scrub near his home but that's been searched. I don't know him but feel for his wife. There is a time when they need to be housed securely in proper facilities but I guess it's hard to judge when that time is upon them.

I've had a look around but he's not in yards or paddocks here that I can see into. I can't get down to the reserve these days but saw a vehicle going through there so the locals have that covered. If he goes too far that way there are miles of coastal scrub for him to get lost in. Hope they find him okay and soon.
 
I hope they find him, some Alzheimer's sufferers have wandered off here also in the past. Very scary, good that it's not winter anyway...wishing some good news for him and his family. :(
 
No, don't recognize him. The choppers have gone don't know if that's good or bad and another van load of people have just come out of the reserve. Haven't heard if they've found him though. I thought it would be damned hard to disappear here but seems not.
 
That's good that he's found, going to be hard for his wife though, nearest facility I know of for dementia patients is Grafton or Coffs and both a fair drive for an elderly lady. Maybe she has family close but most oldies here don't.
 
Doubt any more will be heard of it now. Unless it's still goss at the Post Office. There was someone on radio talking about the dangers for Alz patients in isolated regions, and for those living alone. Their survival rate is vastly less than those in cities with easy access to professional care.
It's something we don't think about when we first retire to our dream destinations I guess.
 
Every few days we get a Silver Alert. Folks just wander off and most of the time are located safely. Sometimes, not. We all need someone watching over us from time to time...
 
Got the goss from the Post Office. They found him in a ditch beside the highway near a bridge about a mile or so from his home.
He'd fallen in and had been there most of the day. Just went to sleep apparently, the goss is that he didn't seem to have tried to climb out.
That was smarter than he could have thought, he wouldn't have fared well in the traffic.

Lucky he just fell in and wasn't thrown in by a semi! Why on earth he'd go out onto the highway is anyone's guess. Why no one reported seeing him out there also makes one wonder. Someone must have passed him before he fell into the ditch. It's hardly normal to see people in blue pajamas walking along the Pacific Highway before dawn. Bit unusual after dawn too really.
Anyway, he's okay, just superficial damage.

I guess it's surprising that we don't have more of this happening as there quite a lot of older retirees scattered around among the younger, working, demographic moving in.
 
Who knows where some of them are? One old dear used ask anyone passing would they tell her mother to please bring her the dress with the blue ribbons on it as that was her favourite. It was sooo sad. The staff used to give her little things with blue ribbons on them and she would cuddle them, but they weren't that dress.

One of the guiltiest laughs I ever had was over the face of a middle aged gent chatting to a lady in a wheelchair in the Doc's waiting room. They were having a good old natter about things in general but what I knew and he didn't twig to, was that she was from the dementia wing of the hostel.
When it got around to discussing the kids of today she looked at her watch and said "I hope this doesn't take much longer, I have to pick mine up from kindy at 3 o'clock and take them to the shops with me."

The expression on his face was utterly priceless. She had to be 90 if she was day. :rofl:
 
Warrigal said:
I find asking about dead relatives, especially a sibling, is a worrying sign.
The next step may be to go and look for them.
Click to expand...

Yes it can become an obsession with them. The last few times I spoke to Mum's cousin she was talking to 'Mum' not me.
She'd forgotten me, but not Mum. Forgotten that Mum was dead too although she was at the funeral.
That was okay, didn't really matter in the long run and it made her happy.

I knew what Mum knew about all the people she asked about and I can lie with the best of them and assured her that people dead for 20 years were doing fine and had asked me to tell her they were sorry they couldn't come and visit for a while.

Why fight their illusions and tell them what they don't want to hear when it doesn't matter any more?
It seemed to be the anxious ones who are prone to 'travel', not the ones who think everyone is still as they remember them, and knows where they are and are content with that. They don't seem to grasp the idea of dead relatives well at all. They just don't believe you, and set off to check it out for themselves.
Just a theory though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top