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Body of Alzheimer’s patient who went missing found

The Columbian
Published: November 20, 2014, 12:00am

PORTLAND — The body of a man who failed to return home from a trip to Clackamas Town Center Monday night was found early Wednesday near Johnson Creek, just east of I-205, the Portland Police Bureau reported.

Searchers had been looking for John Lloyd Scott, 70, who has Alzheimer’s, after he called a nephew on his cellphone Monday afternoon to say he was lost. He was last seen about 1 p.m. when relatives dropped him off at the Holgate MAX platform to go to Clackamas Town Center, something he frequently did. He told his nephew he was lost near the bike trail and was going to sit down on the grass to rest.,

Police, who learned Scott’s phone had been used within a mile radius of Southeast 92nd Avenue and Ramona Street, began a search of the area on the ground, and called in the Portland Police Air Support Unit.

On Wednesday, searchers using a dog found Scott’s body in a remote area near Johnson Creek, east of the freeway and near Southeast Flavel and Knapp streets.

The Oregon State Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.

“We had upwards of 18 people searching,” said Tony Hobkirk, president of Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue. “It was a tough urban search with a mix or residential and green space. There were lots of nooks and crannies.”

On average, 60 percent of those with Alzheimer’s will wander away, said Sarah Holland, director of programs for the Alzheimer’s Association, Oregon Chapter.

“It is a significant problem,” she said. “How do family members and caregivers balance the need for a loved one to have the autonomy to do they things they enjoy, and make sure they are safe?”

She said her organization advocates that family members give those with Alzheimer’s a bracelet they wear that gives contact information.

“If they get confused, it is an easy way to find their way home,” she said. “We had a situatino where a man took a wrong turn on his daily walk and ended up lost. He stopped in a business, showed his bracelet and got the help he needed.”

Because Alzheimer’s is progressive brain disease, she said, a person can live with it for a decade or more.

“Sections of the brain are being damaged,” she said. “What starts out as memory loss, turns into not knowing how to get home because that section of the brain is not working.”

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