Editorial: Alzheimer's initiative welcome

Missing woman Fiona Wills will be remembered in a service on March 14

There were few surprises when Bruce Wills was named the 2014 Landcorp Agricultural Communicator of the Year.

Certainly no surprises from this newsroom.

The Te Pohue farmer was, and remains, a great contact for any newspaper. Articulate, erudite and always polite, even amidst the often tempestuous politicking in his former role as Federated Farmers national president. He is a credit to the farming fraternity.

It is why the groundswell of community response to the disappearance of his 77-year-old mother, Fiona Wills, was also of little surprise.

Mrs Wills has been missing without trace since walking out of her family's Trelinnoe Garden Park homestead about 6pm on December 9.

Her Te Pohue environs, which she knew like the back of her hand, became unfamiliar due to the curse of Alzheimer's.

She will be remembered in a service at Trelinnoe on March 14.

Still Alice, the recent Academy Award winner based on a woman's struggle with Alzheimer's, featured a sobering quote from the protagonist: "I have no control over which yesterdays I keep and which ones get deleted. This disease will not be bargained with ... I miss myself."

While there is no doubt the film will do much to raise Alzheimer's awareness, the reality is there is no cure. Treatment focuses on managing symptoms.

Hawke's Bay police yesterday cited Mrs Wills' case in a push for the implementation of tracking devices for those with the disease. Their rationale was that such wandering was increasing.

With 70,000 New Zealanders expected to be living with the disease by 2031, this initiative surely can only be a good thing.