Hannah Wells and Maisie Clarke, both 17, spotted the lost man in Warwick Road, Coventry, while walking home from a friend’s house after midnight on August 10, said West Midlands Police.
The pair offered the “frail” and distressed man a coat to keep him warm and called police, The Press Association reported.
Hannah, a student at Warwickshire College, said: “We saw someone standing by the road and we were initially apprehensive, given the time of the day and the fact it was dark.
“But as we went to walk past we saw it was a frail man who said ‘I need your help, I am lost.’ He was cold so I gave him a coat to keep warm and we tried to put him at ease.”
Officers identified him as having recently gone missing from a care home to which he was safely returned.
“We were concerned he was going to try and cross the road and could get hurt, so there was no way we were going to leave him. We are just pleased he was able to go back home safely,” Maisie added.
Chief Superintendent Danny Long, from Coventry Police, described it as “an outstanding act of kindness”.
“It would have been easy to simply walk on by and forget all about it but the girls realised the man was in distress and were determined to help out. They should be immensely proud of their actions,” he said.