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Spartanburg County Office of Emergency Management

 

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Tips for Caregivers of Dementia or Alzheimer's Type Patients

In the event they wander away

  • These patients may leave their own residence or nursing home and start traveling along roads.
  • The patient is usually located (89% of all cases) within one mile of the point they were last seen.
  • If the patients are not on the road itself (14%), they are usually in a creek/drainage (28%), and/or caught in briars/bushes (33%).
  • The Alzheimer’s patient is usually found a short distance from a road.
  • Statistics show that quite often Alzheimer’s patients will wander in a southwestly direction.
  • They will not cry out for help or respond to shouts.
  • They will not leave many physical clues.
  • The Alzheimer patient may attempt to travel to a former residence or to a favorite location.

AFTER CHECKING THE IMMEDIATE AREA – CONTACT 911. DO NOT HESITATE!

SEARCHERS WILL NEED AN ARTICLE OF CLOTHING OR PILLOWCASE OF THE LOST PERSON. MAKE SURE NO ONE TOUCHES THIS – OR IT IS PLACED WITH OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS ARTICLES OF CLOTHING.

WHILE FRIENDS, FAMILY, NEIGHBORS, EVERYONE WANT TO HELP SEARCH FOR A LOST PERSON, THEY CAN ACTUALLY CAUSE MORE HARM THAN GOOD BY DESTROYING CLUES. TRAINED SEARCHERS WILL BE CALLED IN, IF “WELL MEANING, UNTRAINED” SEARCHERS HAVE DESTROYED FOOTPRINTS AND OTHER IMPORTANT CLUES IT WILL DRAMATICALLY HINDER THE CHANCES OF A SUCCESSFUL RESCUE.