Posted on 01/15/2020 9:00:45 PM PST by BenLurkin
A woman with dementia who went missing six days ago was discovered alive Wednesday in her snowbound sports utility vehicle in Northern California, authorities said.
A search helicopter flying over the remote, mountainous community of Butte Meadows spotted a vehicle matching the description of the SUV owned by 68-year-old Paula Beth James, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office posted on Twitter.
The helicopter landed and two searchers hiked to the vehicle, finding James inside, the sheriff’s office said. The SUV was described as being buried in the snow. She was taken to a hospital and was last listed in stable condition.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
This is the wrong time of the year to take a drive up in the Sierras.
Thankful that she survived.
Yeah now she can enjoy suffering from dementia until she dies.
Lucky little lady there. Bet her family is relieved.
This is Cali where demented women are allowed to drive off in the snow while rescue units risk their lives to find and recover her. Probably votes too.
Trying to pull a driver's license from someone with dementia is a difficult and measured task (What stage of dementia? When were their driving skills evaluated?), no matter what state one is in.
CA has problems, this isn't one of them.
Why the hell on gods green earth is a woman with dementia even driving around????? . Never mind in the mountains and winter !
Stupid Stulpas.
L
This lady was from Oroville..how she ended up in Butte Meadows is beyond me. But Oroville is not snowbound. She had to travel some distance in the county to reach that snow. More in likely she overshot her destination and took exits and turns and being in a confused state...the rest is the story. Thankfully she was found. Authorities have been looking for her for the past week. Thankfully she didn’t end up in the Feather River or down some canyon. No doubt she will no longer be driving.
Dementia is very gradual. In the beginning it’s so subtle it’s hard to diagnose. A person can be functional in many ways for several years.
You do realize that people with dementia have been known to take vehicles for drives even when they don’t have a license? My daughter-in-law’s grandfather was a pro at figuring out where keys were hid. She made many a run to her Mom’s place because she was the only one who could talk him into handing over the keys.
Dementia is such a destroyer of lives
Californians WITHOUT dementia get snowbound in their cars.
If she has dementia she shouldn’t be driving
as soon as you come up with a foolproof plan on how to completely stop that, well, we will put you to work on world peace.
Interesting slant - I’ve seen people with it and the agony it causes them and their loved ones - I can believe someone would opt to end it during a lucid moment...
Either way, my heart goes out to her and her family - it’s an ugly thing to live with a mind you know is not right and to periodically see your loved ones in fear and pain from it.
Happy ending. Praise the Lord. So many people leave their vehicle and are never found. 6 days is a brutal wait, but it paid off for her. I am sure the rescuers were thrilled not to find an empty truck.
Who gave the demented woman her keys?
She must have believed globull warming and went for a nice sunny drive.
Oddly enough doctors in California as required to notify the DMV
Go be snarky somewhere else
Sadly I was thinking the same thing. I have an in-law suffering through it now. It’s very hard for everybody.
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