Ombudsman not aware of the high number of wanderings from assisted living facilities in Maine [Video]

AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine’s top advocate for residents in nursing homes and assisted living facilities expressed concern at The Maine Monitor and ProPublica’s recent finding that residents unsafely wandered away from Level IV residential care facilities at least 115 times from 2020 to 2022.

Brenda Gallant, Maine’s long-term care ombudsman, said while there is no requirement that her office be alerted about these incidents — called “elopements” — she sometimes hears of them from an assisted housing facility, family member or another concerned person, or when the Department of Health and Human Services cites a facility.

But The Monitor’s recent reporting surprised her.

“We were not aware of the number of elopements from assisted housing,” Gallant told The Monitor.“The numbers are indicative of a need for providers to take steps to develop a plan to …