So I see a lot of stuff in the news, so I thought I would put my 2 pence into the equation and talk about it, start the conversation on what is being put out there, helpful or not.
Picture taken from the is the original article from ITV below:
http://www.itv.com/news/granada/2017-08-09/police-search-for-tameside-grandfather-who-has-been-missing-for-two-weeks/
Now, this would be my worst nightmare.
My heart fully goes out to everyone in this situation.
And I really really really hope that he is somewhere safe.
2 weeks is a very long time. From what I see in the news this one is up there being one of the scariest and very realistic nightmares for anyone, with dementia or not.
This man is the age of my father and rings true for how he ended up in a hospital, thankfully it was over the space of a night and not 2 weeks.
What I want to know is what are the police actually doing? There must be SOME kind of lead out there via CCTV or his usual places. I would assume they have checked hospitals, night shelters, but what actually are they doing?
Also, why is he described as a Grandfather? He must have a child to have a grandchild, is it to pull on our heartstrings, because it should pull on them anyway!
In the video, it looks like he is walking a dog, but it’s not mentioned in the article. I would have always thought people more often than not can recognise dogs at the very least. An old man walking down the street is one thing, but with a cute dog? Maybe that’s for more of a dog person way of thinking but I am just so shocked, and actually horrified this man hasn’t been found 🙁
Now reading between the lines this brings up questions that anyone who is close to someone with dementia will have. Can it be safe to let them still live their lives independently? This man has probably walked that way so many times before, with and without dementia no doubt. Should we be locking people away for their own safety? Or always with them just to make sure they are ok?
People with dementia are still people, and I know from my fathers experience in an EMI care home it was heartbreaking to hear how truly angry and depressed he was for them not letting him go out even for a walk by himself, or in the garden without someone with him or looking over him from the house. However do not get me wrong, I can see every reason why he shouldn’t be left alone, but is there a middle ground?
You can never actually tell on first glance of someone if they need extra help or guidance in some way as it’s an unseen illness which just makes the whole idea even harder to grapple with.
Should this be an example to family members to be tighter with their loved ones on their independence, or should we sadly take this as what will happen, and on rare and very sad occasions turns into a situation like this?
Seriously I want to know what people think about this, it’s a hard one!
