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We all know that independent living residents at CCRCs live, for lack of a better term, independently. They come and go as they please, setting their own schedules. It’s a great arrangement, unless one of them happens to “wander off” and goes missing.

The problem of missing seniors is growing across the nation, and it represents the most likely potential image crisis that CCRC communities might face. With the aging population, especially among CCRC residents, it’s not just those in memory support areas who are at risk of “wandering off.”

A May 4 article in the New York Times entitled, “More With Dementia Wander From Home” outlined how for the first time, many law enforcement agencies say that searches for “wandering” seniors have overtaken other searches for missing people. The trend is being fueled by the explosion of Alzheimer’s and dementia among seniors, and the fact that many people starting to show the initial signs of these conditions are still trying to live independently. And each case tends to generate substantial coverage in the local newspaper, television, Internet and radio news.

So in addition to asking yourself if your community has an emergency plan in place to deal with this type of situation, you need to consider if you have a crisis communication plan that will guide you in handling the media attention that follows. If one of your IL residents “wanders off,” who in your organization is going to address the media? What is your media statement going to look like? How do you explain the difference between someone living in IL versus memory support? What is your community policy on checking on the safety, well-being and ongoing ability of residents to live independently?

These questions are all important because it’s amazing how quickly your community can be thrust into the glare of the spotlight through no fault of your own. Suddenly, an IL or even AL resident doesn’t return within a few hours from a short trip, they don’t show up where they are expected or their family can’t reach them. Your community conducts a welfare check on the resident and searches the campus. No one knows where they are. Someone close to the person finally admits that the resident had been showing signs of confusion, memory loss or agitation.

Soon, the family is filing a missing person report with the police, law enforcement issues an advisory to the media asking for assistance to locate the person, and the family and media are questioning the community staff as to why no one knows where the resident might have been going. And the longer the person remains “missing,” the more involved the media becomes.

Those of us working in senior living understand that while staff, and even other residents, tend to keep an eye on each other, IL residents don’t check in and out each time someone leaves the campus. But that’s a misconception the public and media tend to have ─ that senior living communities watch over and protect their residents.

If you don’t have a crisis communication plan in place, you need to develop one outlining your media and public response to situations like these that might occur. The best protection for your reputation is being prepared to answer the inevitable questions.

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