It took a village to find an elderly man with Alzheimer’s disease who went missing in Gore.
Brian Sheppard, 74, was reported missing around 6pm on Wednesday after he wandered out of Bupa Windsor Park, a retirement village his son Greg Sheppard said he had only just moved into for a short period.
"He hadn’t even spent the night there — he lasted about four hours," he said.
Mr Sheppard said although his father had Alzheimer’s, this was rare behaviour.
"He sort of wandered off. He has done it in the past but not lately. We thought it was well under control, that it was out of his system," he said.
Police were alerted and the call went out on social media to the community to help find the man, many residents hitting the street. His father was found shortly after midnight after two community members, a father and daughter, located him near some cattleyards in Terry Rd, about 3km from the retirement village. Mr Sheppard said it was just in time to avoid bad weather.
"It was just before the rain, so that was good. Great timing," he said.
The police said in a statement the help from the community and the teamwork shown was impressive.
"A huge thank-you to the community — it is unbelievable that the amount of people who got involved and the social media response was so positive and outstanding," they said.
Mr Sheppard also said he was grateful for all the help.
"We want to thank the police, search and rescue and the Gore community. The social media response, the shares, the messages and all the help is more than appreciated," he said.
Bupa Villages and Aged Care acting director of corporate affairs and sustainability Stephanie Crush said Mr Sheppard had been moved in for a short stay, and it had been assessed he only needed a rest-home, which provided residents with a high level of autonomy and free movement.
Ms Crush said his absence was noted early on, and proper procedures were followed.
"Our people noticed Brian’s absence within 10 minutes and then instigated our operating procedure for missing residents, which is to undertake a thorough search of the care home and outside property," she said.
Ms Crush said when he could not be found, police were alerted along with family.
Staff were also brought in to help with the search and others volunteered, she said.
"As this was in the evening, we also requested our senior team back to work to support, and many of our people came in off duty to join the search team voluntarily. We would like to thank them for going above and beyond."
When he returned to the rest-home Brian Sheppard was moved from the resident care facility to secured care to prevent any further incidents.
"It’s where he should be," his son said.
