Is Hong Kong ready when dementia sufferers go missing?
Experts urge more education about warning signs after five deaths
Nine years ago, Rennie Sha had the shock of her life when the police told her where they had found her grandma who had gone missing for several hours in the night.
“In Shing Mun River,” she said, referring to the stream which runs through Sha Tin. “She had fallen into the river on that rainy evening.”
It was only then that Sha’s family realised their then 82-year-old grandma might actually be suffering from dementia. They had shrugged off earlier signs, like the time they found she had kept 80 fish in her freezer at home.
Will China be able to care for millions of dementia sufferers?
“She might have thought the river was a road after spotting the reflected image of the buildings on it … there was even seaweed inside her handbag,” Sha recalled.
“She could have died if she was spotted a second later.”
Despite the guilt the family felt that evening, Sha admitted they were among the lucky ones – who found their missing elderly alive.
