Dementia Alert: Help For Wandering Patients Continues To Come In Different Forms

Patients with different types of dementia tend to wander. But here's good news to all those affected by this problem: Help for patients continues to come, and they are in the forms of service and workshop. This benefits the patients, their caregivers and loved ones, and even the police.

Missourian reported that out 10 people suffering from dementia, six tend to wander and get lost. This is according to the Alzheimer's Association. For this, Home Instead Senior Care developed a service that can help address the problem. It is the Prevent Wandering service, and it is available for free. Home Instead Senior Care provides in-home care for the elderly.

As for the service, caregivers need to create a profile on the Missing Senior Network website in which contact information for family and friends is indicated. If their patient wanders, the caregiver would alert their network about the situation by pressing a button. The Missing Senior Network can likewise inform the police about the situation.

Meanwhile, the Alzheimer's Association offers a similar service in partnership with MedicAlert. The service is Safe Return which began in 1988. Users fill out a brochure; they provide necessary details like contact and medication information. They likewise provide the patient's photograph. Moreover, the person suffering from dementia receives a pendant or bracelet containing his or her name, caregiver's contact details, and personalized ID number. The success rate of Safe Return is 99 percent.

To add more to these tools, CBC News reported about a police who will be undergoing a workshop on dementia. Such workshop will help the policemen deal with reports regarding a sufferer who may have wandered or those who are in care facilities. Dealing with patients or cases concerning them can be challenging; hence undergoing workshops is indeed a great help for the policemen and people suffering from dementia.

A person with dementia may experience hallucinations, delusions, and disorientation. At times, the wanderer may try to go to familiar places like former home and work place.