Last
Thursday's meeting of the Alzheimer's Disease Support Group was
cancelled at the last moment when nobody showed up. It will be
rescheduled for a future date. When contacted, group president Linda
Romney could not quote us a time or place. The meeting had originally
been scheduled for 7:30 PM at Bearnice Patterly's home. Unfortunately
Bearnice was not at home at that time. At least one member of the group
made an appearance at a neighbor's home, but no connection was made, as
they were unable to recall the reason for their presence.Three members of the group showed up at various times on the following day, but left when Bearnice was again apparently not home. Later it was found that she had been home all along, but unable to locate the front door. One group of attendees was planning on carpooling to the meeting, but there was apparently no consensus as to whom the driver would be. Mabel Shelley, who hosted the previous meeting (also cancelled), reported that at least five people showed up this time at her home. She had forgotten about the meeting, but states that they all had a good enough time playing cards.
Clarke Bunning and Wilson DeWold, both of rural Greene County, were last seen leaving for the meeting, and remain missing. Police are looking for them, and have threatened to step in and cancel future meetings, as incidents of this nature continue to grow in number. We were told that people are still missing from as far back as last October's meeting.
Relatives have been encouraged to transport their loved ones to and from the meetings. Unfortunately, this technique, too, has had its drawbacks. At last December's get-together, Blanch Plodtz was expecting her son-in-law to take her to the group when he instead dropped her off at extended care and never picked her up.
Rick Bland, 02-18-2010