Alzheimer's Club

The Police Department is adding GPS technology to its Never Alone: Safely Back Home program to help families of those with Alzheimer's disease or other special needs who may frequently wander away from home.

The Never Alone program has several components. According to Redlands Police Chief Jim Bueermann, the first component is the group of volunteers who look after people who may need help.

Bueermann referred to an instance when a volunteer called to check on an elderly woman and could not get in touch with her. The volunteer called the police who went to the woman's home where they found that she had fallen and broken her hip the night before.

The program also helps seniors with transportation. Volunteers make sure that their clients are able to get to medical appointments and go grocery shopping.

The Safely Back Home part of the program involves registering people with Alzheimer's or dementia and autistic children and others with special needs. Bueermann said the focus is on those who tend to wander.

By registering the person's information, police can access the information online from their patrol vehicles while out searching for the lost person.

According to police spokesman Carl Baker, in 2006 Redlands police responded to more than 130 reports of missing adults, roughly once every three days.

According to the Alzheimer's Association, six out of 10 people with Alzheimer's disease will wander sometime during the progression of the disease.

"If they are not found within 24 hours, half of those could suffer serious injury or death," Baker said.

When every minute is precious, it is often difficult to ascertain vital information from frantic family members or other caregivers, Baker said. Thus registering the person's information makes the process easier.

When caregivers register with the program, they will also be provided with information and resources to help them better protect their clients and families.

The GPS technology that has been added to the program, similar technology to that is in cell phones and cars, will help to quickly locate people who are prone to "wandering syndrome."

But Baker said there are many issues that need to be worked out regarding the GPS element of the program.

"We will not be monitoring the GPS but are looking at a way, for instance, to set up a Rvirtual fence' that would alert someone if the subject wanders out of a predetermined area," Baker said. "It would also be useful if we get a report that a subject is missing. If they have GPS we can locate that person electronically, cutting down on the manpower and, more importantly, search time since often time is of the essence in searching for people with medical needs."

Though there are some glitches with GPS, Bueermann said that it can help "tremendously" in finding people.

Source: Darcie Flansburg. Technology will help get people safely back home (24 Feb 2007) [FullText]

Labels: Alzheimer's Care