Hamilton family relieved after their 77-year-old grandmother is found

A Hamilton family is relieved but angry over an ordeal faced by their 77-year-old mother and grandmother, Irene Cooper.

The grandmother was supposed to be dropped off at a centre for people with dementia this week but wound up wandering around downtown Hamilton for hours.  

Wendy Reid and her son Joe Pregent are still shaken by what happened to Cooper.

Reid says her mother walked for five hours around Hamilton.

They say Cooper is in an advanced stage of dementia and was taken to a day centre for disabled people by DARTS as usual on Wednesday morning, but say the driver didn’t take her inside.

Pregent, Irene’s grandson says, “DARTS left and she was not inside the building so she turned around and decided to walk away from the building.”

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Pregent says they received a call from the adult centre confirming if their mother was supposed to be there. To which they responded, yes and were surprised when they heard she had not arrived yet.

Cooper’s daughter Wendy Reid said, “the thoughts that go through your head when it’s your parent. For her to walk for five hours, five hours she walked.”

Cooper’s family say they then called police and started searching in the neighbourhood.

They are still not clear on exactly where Cooper went and were worried about a major fire that was happening in the area that day.

A sudden sharp temperature drop was also expected within a few short hours, though by mid-afternoon Cooper was found.

Cooper wound up four and a half kilometres away from where she left, at a gas station on Dundurn, south of Main Street.

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To get there Cooper had to walk through downtown Hamilton traffic, including intersections like Main and Dundurn, despite her dementia.

Jasmine, who works at the gas station realized there was something wrong when she saw Cooper and called the police, who reunited the family. 

Pregent says when he saw his grandmother again, “she was cold, shaking, like I said, a little confused. Just didn’t really realize what was going on.”

“I’m so thankful she kept her there. Once you’ve been through it you don’t know what goes through a person’s head. Anybody could have picked her up” said her daughter Reid.

The family wants DARTS to take action against the driver and better training on dementia.

DARTS told CHCH News the driver did not follow directions and this incident is being dealt with at a high level and there will be continuing training.  

“Deadly things could have happened. She could have sat somewhere in the dark, got confused, didn’t know where she was, there could have been a lot worse outcomes” says Pregent.

The family says Irene still doesn’t seem to have recovered fully.