Dementia groups urge action amid surging incidents
By Cheng Ming-hsiang and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Dementia advocacy groups yesterday urged the government and the public to take action against the rising number of incidents of people with dementia going missing, citing Taipei City Government statistics showing 179 incidents last year.
Fang Ting-gung (方定工), an officer at Nangang Police Station in Taipei, said on Sunday last week that older people with dementia might be “mentally stuck” in a time long ago, leading them to think that they must go to work.
This might happen in the middle of the night or in bad weather, which might imperil their physical health, he added.