Bus Driver Reunites Elderly Man With His Family

An RTA coach operator is being praised for reuniting a lost elderly man with his family.

On the evening of November 2, while Camille Wilson was driving Route 19 in Perris, she heard an announcement from dispatch to be on the lookout for a missing person who was last seen leaving Kaiser Hospital in Corona nearly three hours earlier.

The 77-year-old man apparently had dementia and his family was worried about him. Camille at that time was in Perris, pretty far from Corona. But that didn’t keep her from taking a look around anyway. Her eyes checked the streets she drove down. She took a quick look at the passengers on her bus and eyed the new ones who got on board.

Then at the Perris Station Transit Center, she welcomed aboard an elderly man wearing tan pants, white shirt, and a baseball hat. Just like the description on the radio. Bingo!

Camille didn’t waste any time. She called dispatch and notified them that the man was safe and onboard her bus. Dispatch then contacted police.

Thanks to Camille’s quick thinking, the man remained calm and safe on the bus until police arrived and were able to reunite the him with his family.

Knowing safety is RTA’s number one core value, Camille showed incredible customer service skills and extraordinary attention to detail that resulted in a positive --- and safe --- outcome.