A resident takes off

Last evening sometime after the resident suppertime, there was a lot of commotion and I heard a screaming sound in the hallway. I knew something was going on with one of the residents. But, since I'm in my room, I do not know what's happening. I also do not put my call light on to bother the aides and ask.

I kept busy doing what I was doing. I knew the overall environment here would be different, because four new male residents have arrived in the last couple of weeks.

In fact, we only got the fourth one yesterday.

Luckily, most of these residents are pretty much able to care for themselves. Yet, I always feel sorry for any new resident . I know that coming to a new place is difficult. You know nobody and you don't know how things are run here.

When you first come, there is no way to know if this is a good place or a bad place. It takes time for residents to figure that out.

I heard that a resident got out. And it was not the newest resident. It's the one who arrived third. Somehow he got out and took off with a nurse and an aide chasing him. By the time they caught up to him, he had managed to borrow a cell phone and called the police. He told them he was suffering from heat exhaustion.

I'm not sure whether the police just showed up based on the fleeing resident's call, or if nurse or aide called them. But the police picked them up and brought them back here.

I found all this out when my nurse brought me meds around 6:30 p.m. She said they were running like crazy to catch up with the male resident who ran from them.

The runaway resident was sent to the local hospital's ER for a psych evaluation. But, I don't know that he got one, since he returned so quickly.

This morning he was being watched by a housekeeper for a short period of time. I think they wanted to make sure that he didn't take off during resident breakfast.

So far, I think he's still here. There has been no different or strange noise  during tonight's resident supper.