Public Employee Press

Crossing Guards unite lost Alzheimer's patient with family

As proud parents of elementary-school children, School Crossing Guards Tammy Morales and Guadalupe Saldivar fully understand their responsibility to make sure that young schoolchildren get home safe and sound. On a busy commercial strip of East Tremont Avenue in the Bronx, the Local 372 members cross not only PS 14 pupils but many from the nearby St. Benedict's school as well as elderly citizens from a nearby senior center and even older students from Lehman High School.

"The high school students don't really like to be crossed," says Morales. "but the seniors and everyone else really appreciate us." Working the early shift beginning at 7 a.m. and the afternoon shift, Morales also sees her son, a fifth-grader at St. Benedict's.

The normal routine was broken April 30, when they noticed a man who kept crossing the street several times. Sensing something was wrong, Morales and Saldivar approached him to find out if there was a problem.

"He was quiet and child-like," said Saldivar. They convinced him to go with them to the nearby 45th Precinct, although he was worried that he might be arrested.

"We reassured him," Saldivar explained.

With the help of police officers, they discovered that the man lived six miles away, suffered from Alzheimer's disease and had been reported missing by relatives. The two Crossing Guards were soon able to reunite the man with his family.

"To be able to bring him together with his family, of course that made us feel good," said Saldivar, who has been on the job for four years,

On May 8, Capt. James McGeown invited them to the annual breakfast of the 45th Precinct Community Council at the Villa Barone Manor, where they were honored by the council and received citations from the Police Dept. and the City Council.

"They caught us by surprise," said Morales. "We really appreciate it, but that's our job - helping the kids and people in the community."