Last November, after attending a play in Boston, Julia Wallace went to the ladies room while her husband, Jim, waited in the lobby. Julia, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, could not pick out her husband of 50 years in the crowd and wandered outside into the nearby MBTA station.
Luckily, a woman saw Julia and returned her to Jim. Upon her arrival Jim wept with joy.
"But it might not have turned out so well," Jim Wallace told the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs yesterday with his wife at his side.
Wallace was among those who urged the committee to "enthusiastically" support a bill to create a "Silver Alert" system to help protect cognitively impaired missing persons.
"It would have been great to know that there was already a system in place to alert other people and businesses in the area of the theater that this person was missing," Wallace said.
The proposed system would be modeled after the Amber Alert system, which notifies local businesses and the police when a child is missing.
"The system differs from Amber Alert in that the system focuses locally," said Jerry Flaherty, spokesman for the Alzheimer's Association of Massachusetts — New Hampshire Chapter.
Sixty percent of people with Alzheimer's will become lost, with 30 to 40 percent dying if not found within 24 hours, according to the Alzheimer's Association.
State Sen. Robert O'Leary, D-Barnstable, a sponsor of the bill, hopes that the pilot program for this project will be initiated on the Cape because of its large elderly population.
"These are avoidable deaths," said O'Leary. "This seems like an obvious thing to do."
Full Article and Source:
'Silver Alert' Gets Statehouse Hearing
5 comments:
Please note that the Silver Alert System is very important not only to those with Alzheimer's and dementia, but also to young adults who may have Autism, those with short term memory, stroke and other cognitive difficulties. Please support Jerry Flaherty and his excellent work to bring the SAS to Massachusetts.
In the meantime, there are two important organizations that are available to assist. The first is MissingPatient.com. It is a service that is no-charge and you can register those who may tend to wander, in advance. Should they go missing a call to 911, or your police department, and all the pertinent information is available to them to issue an immediate notification. It is a secure database and by being proactive, it saves precious time in gathering information on your loved one should they wander.
See: http://www.missingpatient.com
Another organization is LostNMissing, Inc. (pending 501c3 non profit) an informative and educational service on preventing loved ones from becoming a statistic as well as supportive resources, marketing and services for families for those lost and missing, always at no charge. Specializing in Amber, Rilya, and Silver Alerts, as well as teen runaways and parental abductions. LostNMissing posts eye-catching detailed banners in numerous Internet social sites to help bring awareness of missing loved ones. You can view missing banners at http://www.lostnmissing.com
I am pleased to see Silver Alert spreading from state to state.
Very good point about autistic persons, LostNMissing.
And thank you for the information. MissingPatient sounds good as well as LostNMissing.
Are these organizations familiar, though, with unlawful and abusive guardianships? Many times, when a person wanders off, that person then finds him/herself --- and family -- in the never ending struggle against guardianship abuse.
Silver Alert is a wonderful program.
Many seniors get confused - some just temporarily. But a lot of damage can be done and those persons can be harmed.
Silver Alert is the answer!
Congratulations state of Mass!
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