His dad was wandering at 2 a.m. He was 280 miles away.

The situation

Mark is a software engineer in Seattle. His dad Henry is 76, retired, lives alone in Spokane, four hours east. Henry was diagnosed with mid-stage Alzheimer's eighteen months ago. For the first year Mark kept things together with weekly calls and a long visit every other month. Then a neighbor called at 2 a.m. to say Henry was outside in pajamas, asking for directions to his own house. The next month Mark drove over to find an empty pill organizer and four bottles of expired medication on the counter. Mark's wife had a new baby. Something had to change.

How Pinnie stepped in

Mark signed Henry up after that visit. The advocate, Hannah, started with a joint phone assessment with both of them. Within a week she had found a Medicare-covered memory care day program five blocks from Henry's house and arranged a tour. She scheduled the neurology follow-up that finally adjusted Henry's medication and reduced the agitation driving the wandering. She set up respite care twice a week so Henry had a structured day, and she got him into a research cohort at Providence Sacred Heart that was testing a slow-progression therapy. When Henry's primary care office wanted Mark to drive over for paperwork, Hannah called the office herself and got it sorted by fax.

Where things are now

Henry has a routine he keeps to. The wandering stopped after the medication change. Hannah does a twenty-minute call with Henry on Tuesday mornings and texts Mark a summary the same afternoon. Mark sleeps through the night.