Interest in Alzheimer's syndrome is growing nationally in Search and Rescue. Locally, we can usually count on a few Alzheimers incidents every year. One such callout occurred about 10 p.m. on August 12, 1997 when a man in his eighties walked away from his home on Meadow Court near Mosquito Road, about a mile north of Placerville.
The original caller was the man's wife, who woke from a nap and discovered him gone. When she was unable to find him nearby, she called 911.
While searchers from Sierra West, Search Management, Four-Wheel Drive, and Mounted responded to the OES office, Sierra West members Missi Escobar and Bill Fisher met the man's wife and got a description. Their hasty search of the immediate area proved negative, and about 11:00, foot, mounted and 4WD teams began to search roads and trails in the dark. Early results were not productive, although one person contacted by search teams reported seeing a man matching the subject's description walking toward Placerville that afternoon.
The area of the search is characterized by brushy hills and steep ravines, with homes clustered along the twisting, narrow roads that cling to the ridgetops. Mosquito Road, the main thoroughfare, is a winding two lane road with no curbs and often no shoulder — there are better places for pedestrians at night. These factors, plus the man's age led some to fear the worst.
Searchers checked side streets, dirt lanes and the steep drop-offs next to many of the local roads. Since the man's home was only a mile from Placerville, the city limits were included in the search area. Teams were sent onto the brightly lit streets, and the Placerville Police Department was advised.
The search plan also included telephone calls to local businesses in Placerville, and it was one such call that ultimately solved the mystery. Colette Wheeler, who was methodically calling all the businesses on Broadway, hit pay dirt when the desk clerk at Days Inn said that yes, a man that looked like the lost subject had registered there. When deputies arrived, they knocked on the man's door and confirmed his identity. The search was concluded and SAR volunteers were called in from the field about 2 a.m, and the man got a Sheriff's escort to his home on Meadow Lane.
At the SAR general meeting on August 14th, a mission review highlighted several valuable lessons. First, searching private property is a touchy area with many homeowners. Searchers should ask the homeowner or resident, and if the homeowner says No or is confrontational, then searchers should respect the his or her wishes.
Also, Alzheimer's patients don't always behave like you'd expect. While most of us were thinking classic Alzheimer's (lost and confused), this man was thinking clearly enough to walk to town and check himself into a motel.
Finally, there was widespread puzzlement about why, if the man just wanted to spend a night by himself, deputies forced him to return home. The reason, it turned out, was that when the deputies talked to the man in his motel room, he though he was in his own bedroom at home. Since he was mentally impaired at this time, returning him home to his wife was the reasonable thing to do.