Clark dispatchers quickly find missing 79-year-old

Dispatchers found a missing 79-year-old woman within about 10 minutes of the 911 call Sunday afternoon, thanks to some detective work of their own.

The husband of Gladys Pierce called 911 at about 12:45 p.m. Sunday after his wife, who has dementia, had not returned to their Hazel Dell home after going for a walk, Clark County sheriff’s Sgt. Craig Randall said.

While deputies gathered information, dispatchers called C-Tran. A bus driver with the agency remembered having a passenger that matched Pierce’s description and told dispatchers that she was dropped off in downtown Vancouver at West 13th and Washington streets, Randall said.

Dispatchers then remembered a medical call about an elderly woman who had fallen on the sidewalk in downtown Vancouver and learned that Pierce was the woman who had fallen, Randall said. She was found at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center.

Hospital staff did not have information about her condition.

Randall said that dispatchers took it upon themselves to do some digging and deserve credit for connecting several dots to find Pierce quickly.

“They put it all together and resolved it right away,” Randall said.