Wandering Loved One at Risk

Wandering Causes Risk, Anxiety, Stress, and Confusion

Wandering is a behavior not uncommon to Alzheimer’s disease, other Dementias or Autism. Children and Seniors with some type of cognitive disability may wander off – and not be able to return home safely.

Wandering by foot is one thing, but by car, causes even greater panic, as the person must be located more quickly. Living in South Florida, it seems like a daily occurence to see a Silver Alert – alerting about an older adult who has driven off.

Some ideas to Prevent Wandering:

1. Medication.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           2. Top bolt on upper part of the door                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   3. Bells on door  of their room and leading outside                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       4. Hiring an aide or companion at night

and still, a determined person can get away, it happens in a moment— as any watchful parent can attest to.  It is a good idea to let neighbors know if your loved one may wander, and put your first name and phone number in their wallet so you can be called.

Fortunately, technology has come up with a quick and easy way to locate an elderly (or child, teen) family member who has “gotten away”. SafetyNet by Lo/Jack has Radio Frequency Technology put into a lightweight button worn around the wrist which can find a person, usually within 30 minutes.

Unlike other GPS types of technology, this is waterproof, locates in dense areas like woods or where there are many buildings together and it is used in conjunction with Law Enforcement.

So if you are living with and caring for a person with diminished capacity, brain damage or dementia and wanders off, do your best to keep them safe and consider adding this extra layer of protection and peace of mind. Should your parent, grandparents get out of the house or away from you in a Mall, SafetyNet by Lo/Jack will be able to find them in short order.

Technology will help in other ways too in preventing the person from wandering off undetected but somehow, some folks still wander off so finding and returning them home safely before any danger can happen is equally important.