Law enforcement and Community Watch partnered Tuesday in locating a dementia patient from The Villages who had wandered nearly 200 miles away to Punta Gorda.
The search began when a 93-year-old Village of Briar Meadow man, who was a patient at The Villages Regional Hospital, told his case worker at the hospital he was concerned that he had not heard from his wife who had left the hospital at about 6:30 p.m. New Year’s Day. He provided the make and model of his wife’s car and the license plate number. He did not have her cell phone number.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office was notified that the 75-year-old woman had gone missing and a deputy contacted Community Watch. A representative of Community Watch produced a cell phone number for the woman and dispatch was able to call her.
She answered and “was clearly confused,” according to an incident report from the sheriff’s office. She told the dispatcher she was five minutes away and had just finished playing golf. She indicated she was at a 7-Eleven store.
A dispatcher instructed the woman to enter the store. Once inside, the woman gave her phone to a clerk who told the dispatcher the woman was at a 7-Eleven store in Punta Gorda. The Villager had been driving the Toyota described by her husband
The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office was contacted and a deputy made contact with the Villager. Arrangements were made through the Department of Children and Families to intercede in the matter.
