An elderly man with dementia who became lost and made his way from Vancouver Island to the mainland is back home thanks to two Good Samaritans who didn’t hesitate to lend a hand.

On Friday, Karon Trenaman and her friend were at a checkout line inside Royal City Centre mall in New Westminster when they overheard a man asking a store clerk for help.

“He said, ‘I’m lost. I need some help,’ so then I thought he’s a tourist or he’s from out of town and was going to get some directions,” Trenaman said.

But after speaking to the 87-year-old man, she discovered he had alarming gaps in his memory. She asked him where he lived and he told her “on the big island.”

The man had made it from Victoria to Swartz Bay, boarded a ferry to Tsawwassen, then taken public transit to New Westminster where he started asking for his daughter.

“I asked him if his daughter lived in New Westminster and he said, ‘Am I in New Westminster?’,” Trenaman said.

New Westminster police Victim Services Unit gave the senior a place to stay for the night as it was too late to get him back to Victoria.

On Saturday he was reunited with his worried family back on the island.

The man is one of an increasing number of people with dementia who have wandered from their homes.

Last month an elderly man in White Rock who left his care facility was hit by a train. In December, 76-year-old Joan Warren left her care facility in North Vancouver and wandered into the woods where she died of exposure.

The Alzheimer Society of B.C. says with 60,000 B.C. residents with dementia, a number expected to double in the next two decades, prevention is key.

Some preventative measures include regular exercise to reduce the desire to wander, regularly reviewing medication which can make symptoms worse, and making sure dementia patients are comfortable with their surroundings.

Trenaman said from her experience, she learned some helpful tips of her own.

“People, when you're out and about, just pay attention and don't assume everything's ok,” she said. “If something seems off, observe and think and analyze it."

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Penny Daflos.