Search for dementia patient intensifies

By Brandon Masuoka and Christie Wilson
Advertiser staff writers

A police manhunt with SWAT team officers was under way in Waikiki and downtown today for a missing 80-year-old man with Alzheimer's who has been missing for more than a month.

Masayuki Kubo, 80, is missing since June 23.

Since Kubo's disappearance, police have fielded numerous reports of people resembling him in Waikiki and downtown, with one of the most recent reports at the Chinatown Cultural Plaza Shopping Center on July 14. The search is difficult, police said, because a lot of people resemble the elderly Kubo.

"We're going to look in all those back-alley places where people are afraid to go," said Sgt. Tommy Carreiro of the Specialized Services Division. "I want to find this gentleman. He has a family that is worried, and I think they need to stop worrying. He needs to be in a good place."

Carreiro said police will flood the areas with fliers, talk with merchants and scour parking lots and between buildings. He said a core group of six officers would participate.

	Safe Return Registration Day
•	What: Safe Return is a nationwide identification, support and registration program that provides help 24 hours a day when a person with Alzheimerâs becomes lost
•	When: Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
•	Where: The Alzheimer's Association office at Ward Warehouse; Ka'ahumanu Center, Kahului, Maui; KTA Super Stores, 50 E. Pu'ainako St., Hilo. Residents in Kona, Kaua'i, Moloka'i and Lana'i may request registration forms by calling toll-free (877) 43-ALOHA (432-5642)
•	Cost: $40 includes ID bracelet or necklace and photo taking. Financial assistance is available.
•	Information: Call the Alzheimer's Association Aloha Chapter at 591-2771 on O'ahu; 871-5150 on Maui; 959-9151 in Hilo; or toll-free at (877) 43-ALOHA (432-5642).

"I'm not being naive, I'm still optimistic," Bender said. "We have a community of good people. I think there's a Good Samaritan taking care of him who doesn't have a television and doesn't have a newspaper. I think he may be all right.

"This search has to be a community effort," Bender continued. "It can't be just the police and the Alzheimer's Association. Everyone has to be part of this team. We can't give up until he's found."

Police have searched Kubo's former homes and places he used to frequent, such as Date Street and St. Louis Heights, said Officer Phil Camero of the Missing Persons Detail.

Camero said there's no evidence of foul play and the case is classified as a missing person.

He said Kubo was wearing a white shirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes, which would likely be well worn by now, and might be unshaven.

Kubo had $10 and a bus pass, Camero said, but he didn't know how to use the bus pass, according to his wife. Although he knows who he is, Kubo might be "confused and scared," Camero said, and people should "delicately approach him."

Anyone with information is asked to call 911.

More than 100 Alzheimer's patients have been reported missing on O'ahu in the past 19 months, including two who were discovered dead and seven who have not been found.

Another patient died in a hospital shortly after being found in poor condition.

Yesterday on Moloka'i, a Maui Fire Department helicopter scanned the central area for a second day, looking for any sign of Wally Silva, 72, who has not been seen since Saturday evening.

Silva, who suffers from stroke-related dementia that is similar to Alzheimer's, disappeared from his family's beachside home in the Kalama'ula area and is believed to have wandered into nearby mangrove thickets.

	How to reduce chance of getting lost
•	Encourage movement and exercise to reduce anxiety, agitation and restlessness.
•	Involve patients in productive daily activities, such as folding laundry or preparing dinner.
•	Remind them they are in the right place.
•	Reassure them if they feel lost, abandoned or disoriented.
•	Enroll them in the Alzheimer's Associationâs Safe Return Program, a nationwide identification system designed to assist in the safe return of people who become lost when wandering.
•	Inform your neighbors of the patient's condition and keep a list of their names and telephone numbers.
•	Keep your home secure by installing deadbolt locks on exterior doors and limiting access to potentially dangerous areas.
•	Be aware that patients may wander not only on foot but also by driving or other modes of transportation.
•	For more information, call the national Alzheimer's Association toll-free at (800) 272-3900; or visit the Web site. To reach the Aloha Chapter, call 591-2771 or visit the Web site. From the Neighbor Islands, call toll-free (877) 43-ALOHA.
	Source: Alzheimer's Association

Neither Silva nor Kubo were registered in the Safe Return program, which uses identification bracelets and pendants. The markers provide a toll-free number to a national computerized database that contains information on Alzheimer's patients and others suffering from dementia related to stroke, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and other conditions.

Only 547 of the 19,700 Alzheimer's patients in Hawai'i are registered, according to Bender. He notes that an elderly woman with Alzheimer's was found Mon-day 10 miles from her East Honolulu home. It was the second time she had wandered off in less than a week, but because she was wearing a Safe Return bracelet, she was identified quickly on both occasions and sent home.

Wandering Alzheimer's patients are a statewide concern. During the period that 100 patients went missing on O'ahu, 27 were reported lost in Maui County. One was never found and another was found dead.

All 13 Alzheimer's patients reported missing in the Hilo area during the 19-month period were safely returned home. Figures were not available for the Big Island and Kaua'i.

Officials familiar with the problem believe the numbers understate the case, because many incidents might not be reported to police.

The national Alzheimer's Association reports that six out of 10 people with dementia will wander off or become lost. For most, it will be a repeated occurrence.

"The two earliest and most common symptoms of Alzheimer's — short-term memory loss and problems with orientation — lead directly to wandering behavior and people getting lost," said Dr. Patricia Lanoie Blanchette, professor and chairwoman of the Department of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Hawai'i's John A. Burns School of Medicine.

Many patients who suffer from Alzheimer's still have social skills that allow them to call a taxi or catch a bus, particularly if it is a familiar activity.

"They know to get on the bus, but within 10 minutes they forget where they are going," Blanchette said.

To help prevent an Alzheimer's patient from wandering off, Bender advises using door locks that are out of sight or out of reach, child-proof doorknobs, bells above the door, toddler monitors or motion-sensitive devices that sound an alarm when someone passes by.