A Glassport woman missing since Thursday afternoon never was lost, police said.

Debbie Russell, 57, who suffers from cancer and dementia, was a patient at UPMC McKeesport for nearly all of the 14 hours that she was reported missing.

Someone at the hospital called 911 at 7:09 a.m. yesterday to report that Ms. Russell had been admitted Thursday evening.

Alvin Henderson Jr., assistant chief for Allegheny County Emergency Services, said yesterday that he and other searchers had not determined how Ms. Russell got to the hospital. Her home on Marie Street in Glassport is three to four miles from the hospital.

"She was not aware of the search. She didn't feel the need to notify her family," Glassport police Deputy Chief Shawn DeVerse said, adding that officers visited the woman yesterday, waking her from a sound sleep at the hospital.

Deputy Chief DeVerse said the investigation was continuing as officers sought an explanation from the hospital for not reporting the woman was a patient.

Hospital officials said they did not know their patient was the subject of a search until early yesterday.

Ms. Russell was last seen at home about 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Searchers fanned out late that night, calling in dogs around 3 a.m. yesterday to assist.

Mr. Henderson said searchers followed standard procedure, which included calls to all area hospitals, including UPMC McKeesport. None of them, he said, reported the woman was at their facilities.

Deputy Chief DeVerse said Ms. Russell "seemed tired," but the hospital declined to disclose her condition.

UPMC spokeswoman Susan Manko said UPMC policy is to honor requests by patients who do not want information released about their hospital stays.

"We had no reason to believe we had a missing patient until 6:30 [yesterday] when an employee came to work [at UPMC McKeesport] and saw it on the news," Ms. Manko said. "We were aware of a missing person, but we did not have a name."

The worker notified her superiors and police were contacted.

Ms. Manko said UPMC McKeesport had no record of police calling to inquire about a specific patient, and there were no women admitted without identification.

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