EXCLUSIVE: Elderly woman with dementia found after wandering from family while aide was apparently sleeping
HARLEM, Manhattan (WABC) -- Willia Gailiard had no idea what happened to her 80 year-old mother.
Giselle Gailiard is a proud Haitian immigrant, once fluent in four languages, but lives now with dementia. While her live-in aide was apparently asleep, Mrs. Gailiard put on her finest clothes and left the apartment.
"I have to believe that she was in a very deep sleep that she just didn't hear anything," says Giselle's daughter, Willia.
It happened on 11:00 Friday night. No one still knows where she wandered, but Willia was frantic. She plastered the neighborhood with posters until she got a phone call at noon on Sunday.
"They told me they found her. She was at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx," says Willia.
Giselle was found in the Bronx one mile from her house. The reunion was a moment that Willia will never forget.
"It meant everything to me! I had a chance to still have my family, my mom. When I saw her, you know, I gave her the biggest hug and she didn't realize she was missing, you know?" said Willia.
The agency, known as Hometeam, did not return Eyewitness News' phone calls. When reached this evening, the aide refused to discuss what happened and hung up the phone. Willia has many questions.
"Right now, I'm just happy I have her, stuff like that, but there's always questions I would like you know, to get some answers...just so I could get a better understanding, you know, because this could easily be someone else's mom," said Willia.
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