An 83-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and heart problems was found dead on Christmas Day after being reported missing from her Oregon residential care facility. According to the police, surveillance footage shows the woman wandering outside the facility at 8:47 a.m. on December 24th. However, police were not notified of her disappearance until 2:50 p.m., six hours later.
A marketing department employee at the facility confirmed the delay and said that the staff were looking for the woman throughout the building and outside. An Oregon Department of Human Services spokesperson said that the facility failed to notify the agency of the disappearance within 24 hours, as required by law. Memory-care facilities are not legally required to contact police after a resident goes missing, according to the spokesperson. Family members said they were outraged that the facility took so long to report the resident’s disappearance, saying the family didn’t even learn that she was missing until late on Christmas Eve.
The resident’s 37-year-old grandson said his grandmother had just moved into memory care at the facility the day before, and she wasn’t familiar with the area. Temperatures had dropped into the 30s as the woman remained missing overnight into Christmas Day.
Over 30 volunteer search-and-rescue personnel searched for the resident, coordinating with Clackamas County Search and Rescue, Portland Mountain Rescue and PNW Search and Rescue, as well as three search-and-rescue K-9 teams. Her body was found Christmas morning in steep, heavily forested terrain just 2,000 feet northwest of the facility.
Compliance Perspective
Issue
Many elopements occur in the first few days after admission as a resident transitions to a new environment. Facilities should have policies in place that clearly define the mechanisms and procedures for assessing or identifying, monitoring, and managing residents at risk for elopement to help minimize the risk of a resident leaving a safe area without the facility’s awareness and/or appropriate supervision. In addition, the resident at risk should have interventions in their comprehensive plan of care to address the potential for elopement. Furthermore, a facility’s disaster and emergency preparedness plan should include a plan to locate a missing resident.
Discussion Points
- Review policies and procedures regarding the prevention of and response to resident elopement to determine if any changes should be implemented. Also review policies and procedures for ensuring provision of adequate monitoring, sufficient staffing, and timely notification of family members and authorities according to state and local laws.
- Train staff regarding the importance of providing adequate monitoring and care for the residents. Conduct elopement drills to ensure staff on all shifts know how to competently respond. A training program titled Elopement Risk and Prevention Measures is available for all clients in the Med-Net Academy Compliance Safety Category.
- Periodically audit to ensure that residents’ elopement risk assessments are completed at the time of admission and updated periodically and as needed. Also audit to ensure that staff are performing assigned checks of residents.
*This news alert has been prepared by Med-Net Concepts, LLC for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.*
