A year after Coquitlam grandfather Shin Noh went missing, his son Sam Noh is still stricken with grief and loss over the fact that his dad's body has not been found.
"It's devastating not to have closure. It's a human thing, you know?" the Port Moody business owner says.
Reflecting on a year of ups and downs, Noh says the loss of hope is harder to bear than the fear and anxiety he felt when his dad disappeared Sept. 18 because at least then, there were some potential sightings and a possibility Shin could be found alive.
Twelve months later, Sam has given up on the idea that his dad will be found alive and is putting his energies towards finding a solution so other families won't go through the same ordeal.
On Saturday, Sept. 20, the Noh family, along with friends and supporters, will hold a community walk to raise awareness and support for a citizen-run "silver alert" program based on Amber Alert, which gets the word out about abducted children.
Currently under development by Coquitlam Search and Rescue manager Michael Coyle for a Sept. 20 launch date, BC Silver Alert will use Lower Mainland police missing person feeds to gather information about the elderly, people with Alzheimer's, dementia and developmental disabilities who go missing. The information will then be sent out via social media to spread the word.
"If it ended up saving lives, that would be great and there's the potential for that," Noh said.
Coyle, who has been involved in several missing persons cases, said he received encouragement to create the prototype from both Noh and a relative by marriage of Joan Warren, the elderly North Vancouver woman who went missing and was found deceased last December.
A website, bcsilveralert.ca, has been developed and a Facebook page and Twitter feed, using the hash tag #silveralert, will also be used to fan out details, Coyle said. The program could be expanded in the future, he said, but for now will concentrate on the Lower Mainland, where people may be harder to find because the area is large and dense and the transit network extensive.
There are challenges to making sure the program works and Coyle doesn't want to see it replace a larger government initiative that could potentially cover more area and use better technology to be more effective.
"We're just syndicating RCMP information," Coyle explained, noting that with the proper filters, only about four or five silver alerts are likely to be issued in a year. "So it's not like you're going to get bothered with a steady stream of alerts."
Noh strongly believes his dad could have been found had such a program been available a year ago. Instead, he and a small army of supporters and volunteers spent months following up on tips that had the elderly man reportedly spotted in communities as far away as New Westminster and Burnaby.
Those sightings were never conclusive but, at the time, it was believed that Noh, who suffered from Alzheimer's, might have taken transit into another community.
"It's always a few days after [when we get reports of sightings] and we are lagging behind right now; we have to expand the radius," told The Tri-City News at the time.
Now, as a citizen silver alert is about to be launched, Noh hopes government officials sit up and take notice, and put some resources into education, policies and procedures that could lead to a provincial program.
"We're trying to make sure this is not the only tool for the silver alert, we don't want the government to say well that's already being done."
WHAT'S HAPPENING
Hike to support the BC Silver Alert, a citizen-driven silver alert program.
The hike is around Coquitlam with friends and supporters of the Noh family in recognition of the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of Shin Noh, a retired pastor who suffered from Alzheimer's disease and went missing on Sept. 18, 2013 while on a walk near the family home.
Hike registration takes place at 9 a.m., at Eagle Ridge United Church, 2813 Glen Dr., Coquitlam. The walk begins at 9:45 and will take about one hour. Donations are requested but not mandatory.
More information about the Walk for Shin is available on Facebook.
