Florida recently joined 12 other states in implementing a Silver Alert program designed to help law enforcement officials locate a patient with dementia who has wandered from home.
“It is common for a person with dementia to wander and become lost, many repeatedly,” according to the Alzheimer’s Association. “In fact, over 60 percent of those with dementia will wander at some point.”
While the programs vary from state to state, all share the general concept of the Amber Alert that is used to find missing children. When a patient suffering from dementia wanders off, authorities are notified and the Silver Alert goes into effect.
According to the National Association of State Units on Aging and MSNBC, among states participating in the Silver Alert program now are:
- California
- Colorado
- Florida
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Michigan
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Texas
- Virginia
As an example of how the plan works, when a Florida man went missing recently, the Silver Alert placed an automated phone call to everyone in multi-square-mile area around his home, and he was quickly found. The man was trying to get to Alabama, and trying to go such an improbable distance is a common problem.
“They don’t understand how far they are from home,” Christa Ksiezopolski of the Alzheimer and Parkinson Association of Indian River County, Florida, told The New York Times.
But implementing the program has not been without controversy. New York state officials determined not to set up a Silver Alert, fearing it would dilute the impact of the Amber Alert program, the NASUA said in a May 2008 survey of states.
That survey gives details on seven state programs. Other states fear privacy concerns with senior citizens, who, unlike missing children, have the righs of an adult.
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