When someone with dementia leaves the house

Six in ten people living with dementia will leave home and become lost at some point. It is not a sign that anyone did anything wrong, and it is not usually about wanting to escape. Most people are trying to get somewhere that made sense to them — work, a childhood home, to collect a child from school.

The single most useful thing you can do is decide, today, what you would do. In the moment there is no time to work it out.

In the first fifteen minutes

Check the house and immediate outside first — porches, gardens, cars, and anywhere they used to spend time. Most people are found within a mile of home, often close to the house.

• Call 911. Do not wait 24 hours; that rule does not apply to a vulnerable adult, and every dispatcher in the county knows it.
• Tell them the person has dementia. It changes how the search is run.
• Say which direction they usually walk, and name the places they talk about.
• Have a recent photograph ready on your phone.

Before it happens

A NavHub bracelet means a paramedic or officer who finds someone confused can type an id and reach you within seconds, instead of trying to work out who they are.

The Emergency Workbook on your fridge does the same job at the house: it tells whoever arrives who lives there, what conditions they have, and who to call.

Afterwards

Tell your navigator, even if it ended well. A wandering episode changes the risk picture and usually changes what help you should be getting. It is not a confession — it is information we act on.