As the temperatures in the midwest have remained below zero for several weeks I get an uneasy feeling.

I fear one of my residents may wander out into the bitter cold.

I came across this article in the Omaha World Herald last night at work.

Iowa Family Reunites With Alzheimer's Patient DES MOINES, Iowa --

The family of a Des Moines man who's been missing since Saturday reunites with him Thursday in Nebraska. Robert Krivolavy, 64, has Alzheimer's disease.

He somehow made a more than 1,700-mile trip alone.

On Tuesday night, he called home from a bus station in San Diego, saying he was lost.

His wife, Bobbi, booked him on a bus trip that has 37 stops between San Diego and Des Moines. She said the bus ticket was the only way she could afford to get him home.

Krivolavy apparently drove off from the motel he manages with his wife and ended up in Kansas City, Mo.

No one knows how he got to San Diego.

"Oh, he's frightened. He said he's terrified. He doesn't understand what's going on," she said.

Des Moines police said his family met him in Ogallala, Neb., to take him the rest of the way home.

This story, on February 15, 2007 from Hawaii

Missing Woman With Alzheimer's Found

Eighty-six-year-old Fortunata Ringor is back home with her family tonight, a little hungry, a little dirty, but safe. It was the best possible ending to a frightening hours-long search for the Alzheimer's patient.

Ringor's daughter-in-law, Elaine Ringor, said Fortunata had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease about three years ago.

The disease has been getting progressively worse. "She doesn't know. She doesn't know. She don't even know sometimes our names," Elaine Ringor said.

The Alzheimer's Association has a program in place called Safe Return.

How Safe Return Works

Alzheimer's Association Safe Return® is a nationwide identification, support and enrollment program that provides assistance when a person with Alzheimer's or a related dementia wanders and becomes lost locally or far from home.

Assistance is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If an enrollee is missing, one call immediately activates a community support network to help reunite the lost person with his or her caregiver.

Safe Return faxes the enrolled person's information and photo (if provided) to local law enforcement. When the person is found, a citizen or law official calls the 800-number on the identification products and Safe Return notifies listed contacts. The nearest Alzheimer's Association office provides information and support during the search and rescue efforts.

For more information visit the Alzheimer's Association's website

http://www.alz.org/

If you have elderly neighbors, relatives, or friends take a few minutes to call or stop by on these cold, snowy days.

You may save a life.

Nursey