Wandering and Family Carer Stress

John’s Problem with Wandering and Becoming Lost

John* is a fit and healthy man.  He has a diagnosis of dementia and is supported at home by his wife.  He is always very keen to leave home and unfortunately has a history of frequently disappearances from home, usually for short periods of time. 

However, recently his habit of wandering caused significant problems. On this particular occasion his wife had popped next door to visit a neighbour for afternoon tea. John was missing when she returned. His wife decided to wait a couple of hours before telephoning the police as she didn’t want to cause a problem as he had a habit of slipping out. However, by evening she was extremely concerned for his safety. Reports of the incident confirmed the following sequence of events.

After leaving his home during the afternoon John was missing overnight at an unknown location.  The next morning he boarded a tram that terminated at the Essendon depot (15km from home). John had asked to be taken to Flemington where he had lived 25 years previously.  The staff at the tram depot were concerned about John and chatted to him for some hours trying to work out his identity. When John could not answer their questions the staff contacted local Police who eventually called and picked up John from the depot. 

The Police spent considerable time checking with local aged care facilities for missing person reports and all Police stations in the general area were notified that a disorientated person had been located. The missing person report that John’s wife had initiated the previous evening was eventually located. After a further 4 hours at the Police station John was re-united with his wife.  In total, John was missing for over 20 hours and his wife had spent a very stressful night and morning concerned about her husband’s safety. 

Identified areas of concern

1. John had no identifying information on his person (no bracelet or ID card). 
2. His wife felt guilty about reporting him missing and causing Police a lot of trouble. She had kept hoping that he would return home like he had done on previous occasions. However, on this occasion John did not return and the delay in reporting him missing made it harder to locate him. 
3. Both the tram depot staff and the Police spent considerable time (several hours) trying to identify John. Unfortunately, there was no central Safe Return Home system database to log onto to see if anyone fitting John’s description had been reported missing. 
4. Both John and his wife were distressed when eventually re-united 20 hours after he had been reported missing. 
5. John’s wife was not able to provide an up-to-date photo of John. Police broadcasting of an up-to-date photograph plays a vital role in helping to locate a missing person.

Each of these factors can increase the time taken to locate and/or identify a person reported lost or missing.

How the Safe Return Home system could have helped John and his wife

1. John’s wife would have been less embarrassed to notify Police as she participates in a system designed to assist Police to search for and identify a ‘missing’ person.
2. If John had been registered with the Safe Return Home service providing identifying details, a recent photo, carers contact details, and possible destinations, it would have become immediately available to all Police stations and Police Officers with access to the Internet. 
3. If John’s wife had given approval, an information description (photo and first name) would have been displayed on the public Safe Return Home web site. The tram depot staff who found John would therefore have been able to log onto the site and check if John matched the description of any registered person reported as missing.
4. Access to the public web site by tram depot staff would have enabled rapid identification of John, thereby significantly reducing the stress for John and his wife. 
5. If the tram depot staff had not checked the web site, the Police would have been able to match John with his details on the secure section of the Safe Return Home system. This step would still have saved hours of distress and time in trying to identify John.  Access to the central database system would also have placed less demand on Police services. 

*John is an assumed name to protect the privacy of this family.