Stunned
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Thank you for asking!Is that her partner in the photo?
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Thank you for asking!Is that her partner in the photo?
Oh my! That is petrifying! I would hate my father to do that, and would do everything in my power to stop it, although the reality is, of course, that you can't.My father is older with health issues and goes walking alone daily on unincorporated forested trails that are known to have landslides, cougars, bears, water, etc. This is in a less rural area of WA, BTW. He's reported very rarely seeing other walkers when he is on certain trails and there are certain ones that he has never seen another person on. These kinds of stories are why I am so fearful when he does this!
I don't know this specific trail Julie disappeared from, but I wouldn't be surprised if walkers on the trail are rare and if you can go hours without seeing somebody, because that would not be unheard of.
I'd like to add the perspective, from my own life experience, that dementia is an evolving, progressive disease. The person doesn't typically go directly from 100% to confused.No, no caregiver of a person with dementia would do that. The person with dementia can forget they were supposed to stay, like in a split second. They can have a bout of confusion, panic and start walking in a random direction. The partner of a person with dementia would know that perfectly well.
Yes. Dementia is so individual in presentation & is a different diagnosis than Alzheimer's. Symptoms of both occur along a spectrum with individual difficulties increasing the longer someone has either.I'd like to add the perspective, from my own life experience, that dementia is an evolving, progressive disease. The person doesn't typically go from 100% to confused.
Thus it can easily be unclear to a companion/caregiver what the patient's current capabilities are, as they will be constantly changing.
Also, the dementia patient may well insist they are still capable, and it can feel awkward and disrespectful, especially in a close relationship, to completely disregard the patient's experience even if the companion knows the patient's self-assessment to be inaccurate.
So when a person insists "I want to go for a walk on our usual trail" or "I'll be fine to wait here while you go find cell reception" it can be painfully hard to tell the loved one no without appearing to disregard their feelings. They are autonomous adults with their own rights, including the right to make poor choices, all the way up until they are medically declared otherwise.
I'm reluctant to be at all critical of the partner here.
MOO
The bouts of confusion and disorientation are though among the early symptoms of dementia, especially Alzheimer's disease. Also speaking from my life experience here, by the way. So yeah, I do not think Julie's partner would let her out of sight during a walk in the woods, even if he himself got lost. This is not a criticism of him because we do not know the exact circumstances in which he lost her from his sight.I'd like to add the perspective, from my own life experience, that dementia is an evolving, progressive disease. The person doesn't typically go directly from 100% to confused.
This is my exact perspective, too.I can't be too critical of her partner for the fact that they got separated because I know how quickly someone with dementia can get lost, especially in a heavily wooded area. But I do keep coming back to the huge gap in time from the time she vanished until he called the police to report her missing, and I wish someone in law enforcement or the media would address why it took so long. He may have had a perfectly understandable reason, but for the life of me I just can't think what it would be and I keep imagining how differently this situation might have turned out if SAR had been dispatched hours earlier. Really hoping that somehow she's beaten the odds and found a warm place to hole up and she'll be rescued soon.
Last seen walking the network of trails near the Sprague Valley Drive vicinity.
There are houses in the area, but also water too, and quarries.
Needless to say, the forest areas are quite sense looking also.
SBM.I saw an article on my Goggle news feed I meant to bookmark. I’ve linked the closest thing I can find now.
The working hypothesis for their overall behavior is they wander in a basically straight line until they get stuck in some type of barrier.
I recommend the Harvard lecture by Robert Koester, who was the founder of the science of "lost person behavior". He talks about people with dementia.I saw an article on my Goggle news feed I meant to bookmark. I’ve linked the closest thing I can find now.
The other article noted the considerable distance a mild sufferer can cover as they are not thinking of things like hunger or time passing.
This search and rescue article is based anecdotal case studies.
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The working hypothesis for their overall behavior is they wander in a basically straight line until they get stuck in some type of barrier.
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Critical wanderers once they are lost appear to leave few clues and seldom seek help (shout or signal)
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A search and rescue incident commander has suggested the possibility of an East-West trend related to the phenomena of sundowning, common among AD wanders.2
The Lost Alzheimer's and Related Disorders Search Subject
All imo
What makes the search area horrible? Can you show the map?I'm really sorry. Judging from the map this is an absolutely horrible search area. I too hope that Julie has found somewhere warm and will beat the odds.
So when a person insists "I want to go for a walk on our usual trail" or "I'll be fine to wait here while you go find cell reception" it can be painfully hard to tell the loved one no without appearing to disregard their feelings. They are autonomous adults with their own rights, including the right to make poor choices, all the way up until they are medically declared otherwise.
I'm reluctant to be at all critical of the partner here.
SBM.
So interesting, isn't it? I loved studies in human behaviour.
I wonder when they hit the barrier so they can't continue on a straight line, what they do then?
Do they stop there....or do they choose another straight line and carry on, and repeat?
Snipped, for my reply to this portion of your great post:I'd like to add the perspective, from my own life experience, that dementia is an evolving, progressive disease. The person doesn't typically go directly from 100% to confused.
MOO
I’m catching up, but your post made me wonder if anyone saw her partner at that time, alone. Hopefully this is all what it seems and just a terrible tragedy. Praying Julie is found soon and safe! All IMO and speculation.Yes, it's a distance of approx. 6 miles from their house. So, still quite local to them.
But given her condition, I think a little walk around a small suburban park would've been better and more manageable.
I mean, a winter walk on a cold day, in a rural area, on trails in heavy forest, near water, abandoned mines, cougars etc....that would be crazy for most able-minded people!
I wonder if there were many other walkers out on those trails? Nobody has reported seeing her at all.
What makes the search area horrible? Can you show the map?