By Juan Soto
Lydia Eliza Bovell, 81, who suffers from dementia, went missing July 17 in Jamaica.
The family’s search turned up empty, and the police were notified. The authorities filed a missing persons report. And immediately after, the MedicAlert + Alzheimer’s Association, Safe Return Program got involved in the disappearance.
“We begin our search by sending out a lost patient bulletin to hospitals, emergency agencies and shelters, and we hope we find the person,” said Jed Levine, executive vice president for the Alzheimer Association New York City Chapter.
In Bovell’s case, he added, the Guyanese immigrant was found safe and sound at a Brooklyn hospital.
Now, to improve services, the organization just expanded by adding a full-time social worker to operate in Queens.
The social worker will partner with Queens Community House in Forest Hills and New York Hospital Queens in Flushing.
“It will add to our ability to search when people go missing,” Levine pointed out. “We increased our capacity to meet the needs of people with Alzheimer’s.”
The MedicAlert Foundation and Alzheimer’s Safe Return Program not just searches “for someone who goes wandering.” It also tries to prevent that from happening in the first place, Levine explained.
That is why he encourages families to register for free with the foundation. The association has received a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, an international philanthropic organization, and gets funding from the City Council and other foundations.
“We provide the person with a medical bracelet or pendent,” said Levine. “And if the person goes missing, the police and emergency respondents know how to look for his medical identifications.”
Registering with the free service “helps protect family members,” he added.
According to Levine, the Alzheimer’s Safe Return Program, funded in 1980, has a high success rate.
Last year more than 330 elders who suffer form dementia went missing. Most of them were found.
“We find 99 percent of the missing persons,” he said.
“In most situations we find them, and luckily, unharmed,” said Levine,
To register with the program, call the association’s help line at 1-800-272-3900.
Levine said that more than 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease.
“Although there was awareness of the problem for over 30 years, the number of people suffering from the disease went up especially in the last decade,” the vice president from the Alzheimer’s association said. “Every 67 seconds, an American develops Alzheimer’s disease.”
In the case of the Guyanese immigrant, the woman was in Brooklyn July 24 at Interfaith Medical Center.
“We were contacted by police, and the family went to the hospital and confirmed it was her [Lydia Eliza Bovell],” said Levine.
Reach reporter Juan Soto by e-mail at jsoto@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
