A family in Queens wants answers after their grandfather, who has dementia and COVID-19, went missing from the hospital for 12 hours before he called them to say he was lost in the middle of Manhattan.
Armando Hernandez was taken to Queens General Hospital on Monday night with symptoms of COVID-19 and he tested positive, his granddaughter Jazmin Hernandez tells NBC New York.
Hernandez said the family wasn't allowed to go with her grandfather due to the no-visitor policy currently in place because of the coronavirus. But the family said they informed the hospital that their grandfather suffers from dementia.
"We warned them he has dementia. We told his nurse. We told his staff," Jazmin Hernandez, who is a healthcare worker, said. "Everybody has their family in the hospital and I expect them to take care of them the same way I take care of the patient, like blood."
On Tuesday, the Hernandez family received a phone call from their grandfather who said he was lost near the 34th Street subway station in Manhattan, 12 miles away from the hospital.
Paramedics found the 76-year-old on the street and took him to Elmhurst Hospital where he's now being treated, according to the family.
Hernandez said Queens General Hospital failed to report her grandfather missing until the next day after he wandered out of the hospital. NBC New York has reached out to the hospital for comment.
