Catherine Curtis search in Winnipeg stays focused on hospital, parks

The search for Catherine Curtis continues on Thursday with more than a dozen volunteers helping family members look for the missing 60-year-old woman near the hospital where she was last seen.

More than a dozen volunteers arrived at the Sturgeon Heights Community Centre at 9 a.m. Thursday to search for Curtis, who was last seenMonday morning leaving Grace Hospitalin the city's St. James area.

• Catherine Curtis search continuesWednesday
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"We're still focused on Grace Hospital and parks in the area, and we'll expand out from there," said Scott Curtis, her son.

Volunteers can come to the community centre any time until about10:30 p.m., the family said.

Curtis said he's pleased to see more people taking part in the search.

"We're seeing some new faces, and it's great."

Catherine Curtis was admitted to Grace Hospital on April 13 for mental health issues, Janelle DePeazer, her daughter, said earlier this week.

Her doctors diagnosed her with anxiety and depression but did not deem her a suicide risk, DePeazer said.

Curtis left on a hospital-sanctioned unaccompanied walk and never returned. She had refused to take some of her medication before she left the hospital, DePeazer said.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority told CBC News in a statement Wednesday thatit is not investigating Curtis's disappearance as a critical incident at this time, but it has asked her care providers to review what happened.

Scott Curtis said the family and police have received numerous tipsbut nothing concrete has surfaced so far.

He said police investigators have told him they are following up on all tips and checking surveillance video footage from taxicabs and businesses near the Westwood area, where some people have reported seeing a woman matching his mother's description.

Catherine Curtis is 5-foot-4 and about 85 pounds, with blue eyes and long white hair that was in a ponytail.

She might be wearing a navy blue jacket, blue jeans, white sneakers and either a white baseball cap or knitted grey toque, police said.

Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts is urged to contact the missing persons unit at 204-986-6250.