Need help right now?
If someone needs immediate help with found confused person, use emergency mode.
Do this nowDraft guidance — professional review pending.
AidNow content is under active review. Always contact emergency services for serious emergencies.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — You encounter an elderly or unwell person who appears lost, disoriented, or unable to care for themselves.
The essentials if you need to act right now.
Talk gently. Check bracelet or phone number. Stay with them. Call 112.
What might I see? Observable signs — no diagnosis required.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Inappropriate clothes for weather, repeated wandering same block.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Cannot state name, year, or how to get home.
Optional deeper explanation — not required to act.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Dementia, low blood sugar, stroke, or dehydration can cause sudden confusion outdoors.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — They may resist help or give wrong address confidently.
Check the scene before you approach.
Civilian-safe actions you can take.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Guide gently away from road edge to bench or shade.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Look for caregiver searching nearby — call out description.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Offer phone to call family number if they know it.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Note location found for police report.
When and how to get professional help.
Unconscious, chest pain, or aggressive confusion needs ambulance not just police.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Stay, comfort, and connect to official help. Long-term care is for professionals.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — 112 — say "confused elderly person found at [location]."
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Hospital ER can search missing person reports.
Dangerous actions, when not to attempt rescue, and common myths.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Do NOT leave them alone once you have engaged — may walk into traffic.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Do NOT assume drunk — treat as medical until proven otherwise.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — If they say they are fine, you can leave them
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Confused persons often deny problems. Stay until official helper arrives.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Person wanders into highway after helper leaves.
Other scenarios in the same family.
Trapped in cave
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — A person or group is stuck in a cave because of flooding, rockfall, lost passages, or equipment failure.
Confined space
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — A person is stuck inside a tank, silo, pit, manhole, or storage container with limited air and exit.
Mud or quicksand
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — A person is sinking or stuck in deep mud, quicksand, tidal flat, or liquefied soil and cannot free themselves.
Elderly missing
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — An older adult with dementia, confusion, or cognitive impairment has wandered away and cannot be located.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Sudden confusion may be stroke — FAST signs need ambulance.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Police reunite with family using missing person database.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Only relatives can help — strangers should not get involved
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Brief compassionate assistance connecting to police saves lives.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Bystander effect leaves person exposed for hours.