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Dear Resident, With what seems like relentless sad stories in the news recently, we’d like to share an uplifting one where our community has come together to make a difference.
It’s 6.30pm on a Friday, and amongst all the usual people doing their food shopping is something that doesn’t feel quite right.
A customer approaches you, and says they’ve come across an elderly lady in the car park of the store. They've brought her inside the supermarket to keep her safe, because she was wandering around and seemed lost. You approach her but she seems confused and can’t tell anyone her name, address, or any details. There’s no one else with her, and she has no handbag or items with her either. Staff at the tills help you keep her safe while you call police.
This was the reality for one deputy manager at a Huntingdon supermarket recently – and we’d like to publicly thank them for their kindness and compassion, and noticing something was not quite right.  | |
Officers arrived four minutes later and after enquiries with care staff, who were luckily at the same store, were able to confirm they knew the woman and give her next of kin details.
We took the woman home and reunited he with her family, and also spoke to them about a clever scheme called the Herbert Protocol. It can help us find people with dementia if they go missing.
Have you heard of it? We’re encouraging family and friends of people living with dementia to fill out our online Herbert Protocol form. It collates key pieces of info such as a physical description, familiar places, health details and a recent photo.
On the form you can also register your interest for one of our yellow dementia wristbands – which store the name and contact details of a wearer’s next of kin so that if someone gets lost, members of the public can quickly access contact details and reunite them - often taking away the need to call police.
More than 500 people have now filled out our Herbert Protocol form online, proving invaluable in situations like this one. For more info or to fill out a form yourself, visit this dedicated page on our website by clicking here.
Thank you, |