What's she going to bring home next that she finds on the streets?

[Harry Bloomfield]

She likes to get up around 4am and take the dog out for a long walk on quite streets. Yesterday morning she, though she said the dog, found a 'tenner' on the path.

This morning she, or the dog, found an old man wondering lost in his pyjamas and in some distress, so she brought him home, woke me up to keep an eye on him, whilst she rang 999. I made us all a cuppa, whilst trying to see what he could remember of where he lived, his name, age etc. (dementia). He had absolutely no idea at first where he was, didn't even know if he was in the same village as he lived. He only knew his first name, house number and the year of his birth. His second name came whilst the police were ringing back saying they would be there in 15 minutes.

He seemed to be suggesting he had suffered some distressing event a couple of days previously, which suggested to me perhaps his wife/partner having possibly died, as no one had missed him going out in his pyjamas.

The police managed to trace his possible address, from the electoral roll, which was just half a mile from our address, which tied up with the house number he could remember and gently whistled him off to home.

I wonder what she is going to find tomorrow morning.

 

[JP_]

A few years before my nan died if Alzheimers the police picked her up in the middle the night, as she was trying to walk "home" in her nightie, which was Colchester, about 25 miles away, where she hadn't lived in about 60 years.

Sad when this happens. I can only assume the man had somebody at the house to look after him?

 

[motorbiking]

Its so sad when people are turned in to zombies by this terrible disease. Its quite possible this trauma that feels so fresh, happened many years ago. On the positive side Mrs HB found him and it wasn't too cold out, otherwise there would have been a different outcome.

 

[Notch7]

My father in law who had dementia went out to find his wife, he got lost.

Thankfully we managed to find him about half an hour before it got dark

It was pretty damn scary.

 

[JP_]

I think it was more common that people think in older people, but much fewer people lived to be that old.
People would just be called crazy old man, mad bag lady etc etc without any understanding of why they were like that.

 

[Wayners]

Aren't our police expected to deal with everything from armed robbery to mental health. From assaults to theft to lost people or plain drunk. Even managing a pandemic. Something to think about and when they are seen to fail (struggle or make the wrong decision) they are hammered. Something raised in chat and I've been thinking about. Must be one of the hardest jobs at times? Good job we have them though

 

[JP_]

Yeah, we should obviously have far more state funded social workers that are paid a salary worthy of the work they do.
But that won't happen.

 

[AngleEyes]

A few years ago, a friend of ours father found the car keys and drove off on his own. He was found about 60 miles away.
I don't know the details of how he was 'found'.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Its so sad when people are turned in to zombies by this terrible disease. Its quite possible this trauma that feels so fresh, happened many years ago. On the positive side Mrs HB found him and it wasn't too cold out, otherwise there would have been a different outcome.

The police mentioned the first letter of his wife's name, he managed to remember the rest, before gently taking him off. I suppose the police might have checked she was still alive, before taking him home - they didn't tell us much, just thanked us for taking care of him and ringing. It was remarkably warm -14C and dry, luckily.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Aren't our police expected to deal with everything from armed robbery to mental health. From assaults to theft to lost people or plain drunk. Even managing a pandemic. Something to think about and when they are seen to fail (struggle or make the wrong decision) they are hammered. Something raised in chat and I've been thinking about. Must be one of the hardest jobs at times? Good job we have them though

Wendy's son is a PC.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I think it was more common that people think in older people, but much fewer people lived to be that old.
People would just be called crazy old man, mad bag lady etc etc without any understanding of why they were like that.

It even affects animals too, not nice at all.

 

[Notch7]

Yeah, we should obviously have far more state funded social workers that are paid a salary worthy of the work they do.
But that won't happen.

all public services are underfunded, so we see the problem manifest themselves on the front line

The Police and A&E departments have to deal with issues that should be sorted by social services

 

[Wayners]

I know a retired ambulance driver that took a old boy home up north traveling from South. When they got to address he hadn't lived there for years. Was years ago so modern technology this is unlikely to happen but still a story that gets told. Must be terrible not knowing where you live. They tracked down his correct address. So much more awareness these days.

Who's Wendy?

 

[johnny2007]

Aren't our police expected to deal with everything from armed robbery to mental health. From assaults to theft to lost people or plain drunk. Even managing a pandemic. Something to think about and when they are seen to fail (struggle or make the wrong decision) they are hammered. Something raised in chat and I've been thinking about. Must be one of the hardest jobs at times? Good job we have them though

Very true.
Possibly the most underfunded profession at the moment.
Police morale is rock bottom and many officers are leaving because they can't cope with the red tape and constant reminders of not upsetting criminals.
No wonder the few left decide to deal with law abiding citizens rather than hard core criminals.
All of us would probably do the same.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I know a retired ambulance driver that took a old boy home up north traveling from South. When they got to address he hadn't lived there for years. Was years ago so modern technology this is unlikely to happen but still a story that gets told. Must be terrible not knowing where you live. They tracked down his correct address. So much more awareness these days.

Who's Wendy?

My partner.

Cat or dog, it would likely be easier, just scan the RF ID chip... But the human needs to have a clue, or be reported missing by someone..

No wonder they have such trouble sometimes, identifying random bodies found. We were just lucky this guy managed to (eventually) remember his name. We thought he might at first, have been an 'escapee' from one of the local care homes, there are a few not far from here, but the police mentioned his address and a quick google found he lived in a semi.