The number of older people reported missing in Canada is raising an alarm bell for advocates, who warn the problem will only get worse as the population ages and more people are diagnosed with dementia or cognitive impairments
While fewer older adults were reported missing during the COVID-19 pandemic, police forces in Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are among those that have seen an increase this year in missing people over the age of 60.
Laura Tamblyn Watts, the CEO of seniors advocacy organization CanAge, said an aging population means more seniors are getting lost. And police statistics tell only part of the story, she said, because most people are found by family and caregivers before police are called.
“Reports by police should be seen as the tip of the iceberg,” Tamblyn Watts said in a phone interview. “But that iceberg is getting bigger, so the number of people in that tip is getting significantly bigger as well.”
The Canadian Press requested data from police forces across Canada on the number of people 60 and over who were reported missing. Most did not respond by deadline, or said the statistics were unavailable, but data from those that did suggest numbers may be rising.
Montreal police received 442 missing persons calls for people 60 and over between January and the beginning of September this year, compared with 339 over the same period in 2022. In 2020, the number for the same period was 224. In Manitoba, RCMP reported 105 missing persons reports for those over 60 as of Dec. 1, compared to 61 in all of 2022.
Winnipeg police said there were 104 people 60 and over reported missing as of early December, compared with 125 for all of 2022 and 64 in 2019. All of them were found, the force added.
Saskatoon police — the only force to provide a breakdown by medical status — said the number of missing people aged 65 and over with medical disabilities and cognitive impairments rose from 18 in 2022 to 26 in 2023, still well below the 47 people in 2019.
Tamblyn Watts said that approximately 60 per cent of people with cognitive impairments wander, putting them at risk of going missing. “If an older person is gone for more than 24 hours, it’s about a 50/50 chance that they’re going to be at significant harm to their life, so this is a life-and-death situation,” she said.
FULL STORY: https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/concern-rises-over-number-of-canadian-seniors-going-lost-or-missing-due-to-dementia-1.6690321
