A 70 year-old woman went missing and was later found dead in the freezing Merrimack River. Elders are an important part of our society and it is our responsibility to help them when we can. This past week an older lady went missing, she was reported missing and had the Massachusetts police department on a search along with K9’s. She was reported missing around 1:30pm on a Tuesday, they found her two hours later in the Merrimack River where she was pronounced dead.

Boston.com has not put out all the information at this time but this should be a big concern to people. She drove herself to a public and pretty busy bridge, parked her car on the bridge and walked off. It is not certain what happened but it is sad that she could not even be stopped before somehow walking into that freezing cold river. She was found by a local kayaker at 3:15 pm, and first responders got in the water to get her out. I feel this situation could have been prevented in multiple ways. This lady should have a caretaker, safe home, and safe people to watch and help her out.

According to Acl.Gov, there are 14.7 million older men and women above 65 living on their own. That is a lot of older citizens who are still taking care of themselves day to day at 65. One could never know when there’s an issue if they have no way to contact them right when something does happen. There are a lot of if’s and but’s in these kinds of situations and it can make people realize what they should or could do if they ended up in one of these situations. Possibly even make someone want to check on their grandparents or any older relative on their own.

In conclusion, if you know an Elder, relative or not, always be there to help in any way you can if it is needed. There are retirement homes everywhere such as, WIngate Residents at Haverhill, The Woods at Merrimack, Riverwoods Exeter, and many more that all love volunteers. You never know if you will do something to change their day for the better; Little actions can go a long way.