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Missing woman reunited with family in Crete after 10 years

A 62 year old woman from Crete, who had been missing from her home for ten whole years, has finally been reunited with her family again, thanks to the missing persons alert system “Silver Alert”.

Maria Hersonitaki was found wandering the streets of Panorama, Thessaloniki on March 23rd this year, and it was clear from her appearance and condition, that she had been homeless for some time. She was taken to the General Hospital “G. Papanikolaou”, in Thessaloniki for treatment.

Social Services, together with the local police, began the difficult task of trying to find out her identity and family situation, as the elderly lady appeared to have an issue with her memory, and could only give them her first name.

The voluntary Organisation “Life Line”, used their “Silver Alert” programme, which is used in cases of missing adults, and sent out the public alert to social media and television channels nationwide with Maria’s photograph. Via their help line SOS 1065, they were contacted by her family, who had been looking for her since 2007, when she first went missing.

Mrs. Hersonitaki was reunited with her relatives and after her medical treatment was completed, along with the necessary red tape, Maria went home again. After ten long years of wandering alone, she is now back in the safety of her family!

Thanks to the excellent cooperation between the Police, Social Services, Courts and the volunteers of “Silver Alert”, the frightening adventure for one more elderly person has come to a happy end.

Sadly, there are more and more similar cases every year, of elderly persons, suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s, becoming lost and confused and not able to remember their personal details. The switchboard of the helpline SOS 1065, receive huge numbers of calls every single day, and they ask that people take better measures to secure the safety of relatives who may be suffering from these and other conditions, that put them in extreme danger, should they lose their way or become separated from carers.