85-Year-Old Woman With Alzheimer's Missing, Considered Endangered

An 85-year-old woman from Cleveland has gone missing from her home. Police said that the woman is suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

Harriet Banks was last seen driving away from her home on Empire Avenue near St. Clair Avenue, police said, adding that she is considered endangered. Banks was last seen driving a purple Kia Forte with an Ohio vanity license plate that reads "HPRUPLE."

Police gave Banks' details saying she is 5-foot-1-inch and 115 pounds. She has brown eyes and gray hair.

The most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, affecting about 5.5 million Americans of all ages, according to Alzheimer’s Association. This is a progressive disease that slowly affects memory and thinking skills. According to Alzheimer’s Association, the mortality rate due to the disease is more common than that of breast and prostate cancer combined.

According to a report last year from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deaths from Alzheimer’s spiked in by 55 percent in just 15 years.

“Millions of Americans and their family members are profoundly affected by Alzheimer’s disease,” CDC acting director Anne Schuchat told NBC News in March 2017. “As the number of older Americans with Alzheimer’s disease rises, more family members are taking on the emotionally and physically challenging role of care giver than ever before. These families need and deserve our support.”

“As Alzheimer’s disease progresses, caregiving becomes very important,” Christopher Taylor, a CDC epidemiologist who led a study team, told the news outlet at the time. “Caregivers and patients can benefit from programs that include education about Alzheimer’s disease, how to take care of themselves and their loved one and case management to lessen the burden of care. Supportive interventions can lessen the burden for caregivers and improve the quality of care for people with Alzheimer's.”

According to Mayo Clinic, people with Alzheimer's may repeat statements and questions over and over, forget conversations, appointments or events, routinely misplace possessions, get lost in familiar places, eventually forget the names of family members and also have trouble finding the right words to identify objects or express thoughts.