Assisted-living facilities that offer memory-care services are now subject to new state safety rules.
The rules went into effect on July 1 from the Arizona Department of Health Services. The rules include specific requirements aimed at preventing “elopements.”
Elopement is an industry term for when residents with dementia wander away from care facilities without staff knowledge.
The ABC15 Investigators have reported extensively on the alarming trend of seniors wandering away from care facilities and being seriously injured or dying in the heat.
“We have heard stories of people who've gotten out barefoot before in the middle of the summer,” said Brendon Blake, director of advocacy for AARP Arizona. “These are tragic stories where they have burns on their feet, burns on their bodies after falling.”
As ABC15 previously reported, 85-year-old Bob Pollmann walked out of a Scottsdale assisted-living facility last summer without staff knowing. He could not be found despite a search. A neighbor found his body in a wash two days later, about 800 feet from the care facility, according to police reports.
Pollmann was a retired teacher. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease around 2021, according to his family. For his safety, his family moved him into a care facility, first in his home state of South Dakota and more recently in Scottsdale, so he could be closer to his oldest daughter.
His daughter, Becky Sadler, went public with the family’s story last year in an interview with ABC15.
“It’s just such a horrible end to such a wonderful life, and just not what he deserved at all,” she told ABC15 last year. “In talking to you and getting this story out, I just hope that that we can save somebody else from losing their dad.”
ABC15 found Pollmann was among at least a dozen people since 2017 who wandered away from Arizona care facilities and died or were seriously injured. This is likely an undercount because no state agency has been formally tracking how often this happens.
But under the new rules, state officials are now requiring assisted-living facilities that offer memory care to report an elopement within 24 hours to the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS).
AARP’s Blake said these new rules are long overdue.
“It’s tragic,” he said. “I can only imagine you have left your loved one in the care of somebody else, and that care failed.”
Under the new rules, all staff must get:
- Training: Eight hours in memory care services.
- Continuing education: An extra four hours a year.
- Emergency drills: Required twice a year on how to respond if someone wanders away.
In a statement, the state health department said:
“These rules are a win for all Arizonans. They establish the state’s first minimum standard of care for memory care services as well as training requirements for staff and contractors of assisted living facilities, ensuring consistency across the state for memory care residents.”
Email ABC15 Investigator Anne Ryman at anne.ryman@abc15.com, call her at 602-685-6345, or connect on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Facebook.
