NEW CANEY, Texas – A New Caney family is still searching for their loved one, and every hour counts.
Maria Ortiz, 58, has been missing since July 20. Her family says she has shown serious signs of dementia for the past six years — and this isn’t the first time she has wandered off. The search has been focused primarily in east Montgomery County, near State Highway 99 and Farm-to-Market Road 1485.
Stories like this are exactly why the Montgomery Police Department started using a program called “Take Me Home” — a database designed to help officers quickly identify and safely return someone who is lost or unable to communicate due to a developmental or cognitive disability.
The program is simple. Families fill out a two-page document and submit a photo. But the information collected goes far beyond basic identification.
“There are seven questions total,” said Lt. Joe Belmares of the Montgomery Police Department. “One of them asks about favorite attractions or locations where they may be found — so that would be our first go-to to possibly recover that individual. There’s another question about the method of preferred communication. If they’re nonverbal, there may be other ways to get that individual’s attention, keep them there and make them comfortable so we can get a family member there to help them recognize someone on scene and get them safely home.”
The form also collects tracking information, likes and dislikes and de-escalation techniques — details that can make a critical difference when an officer encounters someone in distress.
“If we get a call for service and the officer can search the database we have for the Take Me Home program, this form will populate and it could help aid them in recovery,” Belmares said.
The program is still in its early stages. Belmares says six families with seven loved ones are currently enrolled — and so far, none of them have needed to use it.
“We’ve been very fortunate that those individuals have not needed this program as of yet,” Belmares said.
But the department wants to be ready in case they do — which is why they are working to get the word out.
The Take Me Home program is open to anyone — seniors, adults and children — who may have difficulty communicating due to a developmental or cognitive disability. All it takes to get started is a photo and a completed form, which is available online through Montgomery PD.
Many other agencies have similar programs as well, including the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.