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My grandmother is 90 and has Alzheimer's. My aunt is 68 and has been her full time caregiver in my grandmothers home. about 48 hours ago she disappeared. She has a paid assistant that relieves her for 4 hours a day for her to go to her home and run errands. She never returned. The assistant has filed a missing persons report and authorities are searching for her. There have been no leads in that as of yet. The assistant believes that my aunt may also be suffering from Alzheimer's, although no one else was aware of this. My aunt and grandmother live in southern California and my father and the rest of the family all live in the midwest. It is about 29 hours to my grandmothers house from my Father's home. My father has multiple health issues that prevent him from traveling. We do not even know where to begin. Looking for suggestions as to where to start in this process. My father has a copy of the living trust but has not read it in years... he believes he may be a backup POA, but is unsure. It is all made more tragic by the disappearance of my aunt and the worry over her. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I think it is their desire to relocate my grandmother to the midwest so that there will be a support network there to help care for her.

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This could be a case where your Grandmother's daughter became physically and emotionally exhausted and she just disappeared because she couldn't do the caregiving any more. That is very understandable. Your Aunt is push 70 years old and probably has her own health decline issues. Many of us lose half our energy once we past the big 65 mark.

Depending on your Grandmother's Alzheimer's, it can take 3 shifts of full-time caregivers to help her. And I bet your Aunt never got a good night sleep. I remember my boss taking the night shift for his wife, and most of the time he came into work only having 2 or 3 hours of sleep, as some with Alzheimer's are up all night.

Hopefully Grandmother has enough funds to bring in 3 shifts of caregivers until other plans are made.

As for the POA, if your Dad isn't a POA, then unfortunately no one else can be appointed POA as only Grandmother can do that only if she understands the legal documents. Guardianship might be the next step.

Now, I hope your Aunt is found and is recovering. I would be surprised if she didn't have a nervous breakdown and went into hiding.
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What an awful situation! I would either hire a geriatric care manager in S. California ASAP or get a trusted family member out there ASAP to oversee what is happening with your grandmother. If aunt is located and she in fact also has some kind of dementia, maybe they can both be placed into a care facility out there or nearer family in the Midwest. Someone also needs to read up on the Living Trust document and find out who is backup POA.

I'd also be having conversations with the paid assistant to get all of the information you can about the state of grandmother and aunt. You can also contact their local Area Agency on Aging to see what kind of help they can offer your grandmother until the situation is stabilized.
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Severe stress can cause dementia type symptoms. She may have had a breakdown. I'll pray for her.
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Was your aunt driving? Can you find out if the police who took the missing persons report in your aunt's town/city have alerted the highway patrol to look for her along her possible route? My heart goes out to all of you.
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Sorrynotsorry is so right... I was thinking that I was getting dementia until my primary doctor said this was all stress related due to dealing with two very stubborn and impossible parents who were in their 90's. If only I had a time machine to go back, I would have done things so much differently.
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Saturday, July 16, 2016 05:21PM
BURBANK, Calif. (KABC) -- Burbank police have located a 70-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease who had been reported missing Friday night.
She was last seen Friday around 6:30 p.m. near xxxxx and xxxx streets. Authorities said she left her house between the time when her caretaker left and her daughter would arrive home.
She is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 185 pounds.

Burbank police announced late Saturday afternoon that she had been found safe, but they did not provide any details on the circumstances.
News out of So. California-hoping this is your aunt, found Saturday.
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Btoben, just a few quick comments...

I would definitely try to discourage your father from going to CA. With his mobility issues, the trip would be too challenging and fatiguing for him and would only stress him out. And it would tire out the family members as well.

Back in the early 2000s I had to fly to Texas to bring my parents home from the Winter Texan RV park. Both were in wheelchairs. I had to have assistance just getting into the local airport, and at the Dallas-Fort Worth changeover. If it wasn't for the plane staff of American, we never would have made the changeover and would have been stuck at D/FW until we could get another flight out.

It was VERY stressful.

As to your aunt, does she generally purchase with charge or debit cards? At some point she'll need to buy groceries, and the police can locate her general area through backtracing the charge purchases. I do hope she's just gone to ground somewhere for respite.

This must be such an unsettling and stressful time for your family. I hope your aunt is found and is safe, and that you're able to work out an arrangement for your GM (and your aunt if necessary) that accommodates everyone's needs and safety.

Good luck!
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btoben,
Since the aunt's disappearance may be on the news with identifying information, it would be safer to just say she is found when she has been found.
If you are worried about privacy issues, you can change your screen name and return with a new question, not mentioning your missing aunt or that the area is Southern California. AC administration can assist you with this. Their policy is not to have personal details for your protections. No worries, everyone here are really good people, very few trolls or spammers. You will be fine.
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Who is with your grandma since aunt disappeared ?

even if it is long distance then the assistant should not be talking to the authorities that should be your father or you - adult protective services may need to be called in unless someone is with grandma now

This is a terrible situation - I'm sorry for you

I'm in sourhern California and it is a large area -
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Glad to hear your grandma has someone with her - I imagine your aunt could have needed to run away for a couple of days - I know I want to nearly every day

If police are involved then they will know how to search for her whereabouts -
I'll pray for her safe return -

Keep us posted and if you like send me a private message - what part of SoCal are they located? If your dad cannot locate a copy of the POA then you may need to get a local attorney to advise you
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