In the summer of 2017, Jesús César Martínez de 81 years was found lifeless in a homeless camp of the port of Long Beach. Three weeks ago he had left the asylum he was in in the city of Huntington Park, southeast of Los Angeles County.
The Silver Alert that was issued to locate him did not give results, and it was not until two months after his disappearance that his remains could be identified.
“I know that we are all going to die but my father did not deserve to lose his life in a filthy place on the street”, then declared to Real America News, his son Raúl César Gutiérrez.
He said that his father’s body was unrecognizable; and he had lost a lot of weight.
At the nursing home, they told him something that his family did not know, his father suffered from dementia and did not remember the immediate.
He also They said it was not the first time that they had tried to escape from the asylum.
It is increasingly common to see that the police ask for help in locating an older adult who is missing.
“Recently we are seeing many cases of disappearance of older people of all races,” said Captain Al Labrada, deputy chief of the Central Bureau of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
That is why he called on the community to report immediately when an older relative is lost with some kind of disability or illness. “If they don’t, they can go further and it becomes more difficult to locate them.”
The LAPD can use their helicopters during the first four or five hours after the disappearance of a person, he said.
“The risk of reporting late is that when they are found, they may appear in a hospital, either because they fell, They hurt them by stealing them, or because they got sick by not having access to their medicines. ”
In fact, he said that they can reach the point of dying.
Captain Labrada stated that It is very important that families have recent photos of their elderly because that helps to find them faster .
“Sometimes they don’t even have a photo, and that makes their search more difficult. A notice without a photograph of the missing person does not give the same result ”, he said. and close their eyes they can leave the house, become disoriented and get lost.
“There are some bracelets that cost $ 10, $ 15. They are very cheap. ”
He added that a bracelet can be very useful and make a difference. “Help LAPD agents reunify loved ones quickly.”
Tracker bracelets
Marlon Gabriel Méndez said that Los Angeles County recently gave him a bracelet for his father Daniel Méndez, who suffers from level 4 Alzheimer’s.
“The problem is that we do not know how we are going to put it on so that it does not take it off because it is like a small child. We have to be very creative. ”
He said that they have full confidence in the electronic bracelet to help find their father in case he gets lost, what they do not know is if he will accept it and if he is not going to take it away.
Cinthie López Paz, manager of the LA Found initiative in Los Angeles County, said that since September of 2018 launched the Lifesaver project, a service that provides free tracking devices in the form of bracelets .
“We have delivered 863 bracelets; and we were able to rescue 26 adults lost through bracelet ”, he specified.
He explained that the bracelets are connected to the radio frequency of the Department of Los Angeles Sheriff who has the equipment to read the signs and locate the missing person.
“These bracelets are given regardless of the person’s income. The only requirement is that they must be a Los Angeles resident and have Alzheimer’s, autism, dementia, or a cognitive disability. And it can be an older adult, a child or a person of any age. ”
He regretted that because there are a very great stigma on diseases such as Alzheimer’s, many people do not believe in the diagnosis and do not see the urgency of placing a location bracelet on their loved ones, until something happens to them.
” The bracelets are not a guarantee, but it is an additional measure to locate people who suffer some type of mental disability when they are lost ”.
And when a vulnerable person got lost, he asked to call immediately 900 to find them in time, before they are something happens to them.
“Many people, in addition to having a cognitive disability, suffer from diabetes and high blood pressure, and that complicates things. That is why location bracelets are very important. ”
What is the Silver Alert?
It is activated by the California Highway Patrol when an elderly person with a cognitive disability is lost and it is determined that they may be at risk. The Silver Alert provides immediate information to the public to help in the quick location of a person at risk.
The requirements that are followed to issue the Silver Alert is precisely that the person is older than 65 years and have some cognitive ability, which law enforcement agencies determine has disappeared under suspicious circumstances and inexplicable; considered to be at risk due to age, health or environmental conditions
To request a locator bracelet from the county Los Angeles, you can visit, write or call:
Website: www.lafound.lacounty.gov
Email: LAFound@wdacs.lacounty.gov
LA Find Me Application Portal:
https://lafound.wdacs.lacounty.gov/
Find me LA phone line: 1 (833) 569 – 7651