Have an elderly loved one who wanders, gets lost, confused in Delaware County, Mainline, PA, Philadelphia, Silver Alert Program

About 60 percent of the estimated 5.1 million Americans with Alzheimer’s
disease will wander from home sometime in their life. About 70 percent of
the wanderers will do so repeatedly.
In fact, about 127,000 critical wandering incidents happen each year, the
Alzheimer’s Association reports. It’s a frightening reality as persons with
Alzheimer’s can get lost even in their own neighborhood. And many are
unable to ask for help or provide their name or address to those who might
offer help.
As such, they’re highly vulnerable. If not found
within 24 hours, up to half of wanderers with
dementia risk serious injury or death.
Since 1993, one solution to this terrible situation
has been provided through a collaboration of the
Department of Justice, the Alzheimer’s Association
and local law enforcement agencies: the Safe
Return® program (www.alz.org/SafeReturn).
A nationwide database and emergency response
system, Safe Return has been successful in finding
and returning more than 8,000 individuals, about
99 percent of the registered people who have wandered and become lost.
Silver Alert Systems
Some states, such as Texas, Colorado, North Carolina, Michigan and Illinois,
have expanded upon the Amber Alert system for missing children. They have
created a “Silver Alert” to locate, in the early, critical hours, vulnerable senior
citizens who go missing.
Like the Amber Alert, the Silver Alert notifies law enforcement authorities,
activating urgent bulletins and using the Emergency Alert System.
New federal legislation was filed on April 24th of this year to help more
states set up Silver Alert systems. The bill, the Silver Alert Grant Program Act
of 2008, was prompted by the death of an elderly Florida woman who had
gone missing after signing out of her assisted living residence. To find out more about the program or technology that can assist with keeping seniors safe, locate your nearest Comfort Keepers.