Keeping Your Loved One Safe: Help for Those Who Wander
Having a loved one wander off is an experience we all try to avoid. However, it is one we must all be prepared for when caring for a loved one with dementia. These community resources can help find your loved one when they have wandered off.
Call 911: Request a Silver Alert
If your loved one is not found within 15 minutes, call 911 to file a missing person’s report. Inform the authorities that the person has dementia and request a Silver Alert.
What is a Silver Alert?
A Silver Alert is a system to help local law enforcement in the rescue of missing persons who have a cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia, and become lost while driving a car. The Florida Silver Alert Plan outlines two levels of Silver Alert activation: Local and State. For more information visit https://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Amber-Plan/Silver-Alert.
Criteria for a Silver Alert:
The person is 60 years and older; or,
The person is 18-59 and law enforcement has determined the missing person lacks the capacity to consent and that a Local Silver Alert may be the only possible way to rescue the missing person.
The person has an irreversible deterioration of intellectual faculties (e.g. Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia) that has been verified by law enforcement.
Information Needed for a Silver Alert:
The name of the person and reasonable suspicion that the person is lost.
A full description of the person and their clothing with a recent photo, if possible.
The year, make, model, and color of the car along with the license tag number, if driving.
When and where the person was last seen.
Confirmation that the person has been diagnosed with a cognitive disease.
Be Prepared:
Download a Family Risk Guide HERE: https://www.alzcare.org/wp-content/uploads/OFFICIAL-Silver-Alert-Risk-Guide-6.3.2019-MMB.pdf .
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has created a Family Risk Guide which includes more detailed information one should provide to 911 when requesting a Silver Alert; as well as warning signs and preventative strategies for wandering, and a “Loved One Profile” to fill out in the event of a wandering incident.
NAN recommends: Creating a profile about your loved one and updating it every January. The profile should include: a current photo, full name and nicknames, date of birth, height, weight, eye color, identifying marks/scars, previous lost on foot event (include when and where found), medical conditions, critical medications such as seizure meds, insulin or breathing meds, language of origin, work history (what where his/her tools?), favorite foods, familiar destinations (church, store, park, former workplace), how does he/she feel about crowds, is he/she likely to head toward or away from the sun or water. If they are still driving, include their license plate and drivers license information. You will then be prepared to give this information to the police right away.
Lost On Foot
If the patient can walk or self-propel a wheelchair, he or she is at risk to become “lost on foot.”
With this in mind, it is vital for family and professional caregivers, as well as law enforcement professionals, to prepare for situations in which our patients leave safe, supervised areas. This situation is referred to as “elopement.”
Over the past two years in Florida, approximately 950 residents of assisted living and skilled nursing facilities “eloped.” When a patient with Alzheimer’s disease becomes “lost on foot,” time is of the essence! Here is a link to a 15 minute video on the Lost on Foot program. https://www.alzcare.org/education/educational-resources/floridas-silver-alert-lost-on-foot
Scent Preservation Kits
Ask For a Free Kit HERE: Orange County Sheriff's Office > Services > Scent Kits (ocso.com)
Purchase a kit HERE: $24.99 from Scent Evidence K-9, SCENT KITS - Scent Evidence K9
The Scent Preservation Kit® is used to pre-collect and preserve a person’s unique scent ahead of time. This gives responding K-9 Units a head start during the search by providing trailing dogs with an uncontaminated scent article. Your scent is as identifiable as your fingerprint to a trained K-9 and can last up to 10 years in the kit. (Note: The Orange County Sheriff’s Office is the only location in Florida where you can obtain a Free kit).
Related articles:
Strategies To Reduce The Risk Of Wandering
Checklist: Is Your Loved One At Risk For Wandering?
Is It Safe To Leave My Loved One Alone in the House?
Please talk with your own/loved one’s healthcare provider before using any of this information.
