Averting tragedy when dementia patients go missingーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
new figures released by Japan’s National Police Agency have highlighted the dangers of dementia related wandering most people with dementia or suspected dementia who died after going missing were found within a 5 km radius from where they disappeared now efforts are underway to avoid such tragic deaths with the help of local communities shimada Hiroyuki lives in Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan three years ago his mother Yaiko who has suspected dementia went missing everyone looked for her in all the places where she might be but we couldn’t find her police and fire brigades also conducted a wide search yayo’s body was found two days later in an irrigation canel about 3 kilometers from her home it was a place we could have checked i really regret that she was somewhere so close by but we still weren’t able to find her last year police nationwide received more than 18,000 reports of people with dementia or suspected dementia going missing nearly 500 were later found dead of those more than 77% died within 5 kilometers of where they went missing many were found in rivers and dry river beds others were found in irrigation canels and gutters as well as mountains and forests causes of death are thought to have included drowning as well as slipping and falling an expert says that in many cases people go missing within 5 to 10 minutes walk from their homes and he notes that they often gravitate towards bodies of water elderly people are especially vulnerable to dehydration during summertime when searching for people who’ve gone missing we should focus in particular on places near water some communities are beginning to explore new ways to keep an eye out for each other nakamura Yoshko who runs a support group in Kyoto City is trying to create safe spaces for people with dementia she is making banners for display of participating houses and shops they are designed to be easy to understand for people who need help nakamura also hopes the initiative will help raise understanding about dementia among locals i hope to create a community where everyone can watch over each other and help each other when they are in trouble experts say in more than 40% of cases missing people were safely returned thanks to reports from passers by
Most people with dementia or suspected dementia who died after going missing in Japan were found less than 5km away. What can communities do to prevent such tragic deaths?
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