Silver Alert To Quickly Find Elderly Dementia Patients
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By this time everybody has heard of Amber Alerts – issued by law enforcement as soon as a child is missing. This is the latest twist on an Amber Alert but for people much older.
“Silver Alerts,” managed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, will let the public know about mentally impaired elderly residents who wander from home. A person must be over the age of 60 and suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's before a Silver Alert will be issued.
It was good news for the family of Charlie Brownlee, 76, who wandered away from his sister’s Miami home one day last month. Brownlee got behind the wheel of a car, even though he suffers from dementia. Apparently no one remembered to give Charlie his medication that day. When family alert police they immediately issued a Silver Alert and found Charlie on his way back to his own home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, thinking it wasn’t far away.
The New York Times reports that Florida, along with neighboring Georgia and about a dozen other states have adopted similar programs and legislation is pending in Congress to create a national program.
So far 19 people have been found since Florida adopted the system in October.
The Florida program sends an automated phone call to every resident within a one mile radius of the missing person’s home. The message contains pertinent information, including a physical description of the person and the vehicle being driven.
In the case of Brownlee, about 5,000 automated calls were made. If a missing person is behind the wheel, the Florida Department of Transportation flashes a physical description of the person on road signs, the kind that normally alert drivers to traffic detours and conditions.
With Florida a mecca for more than four million Americans over the age of 60, and about a half-million probable Alzheimer’s cases, this is a very valuable service for our vulnerable population. #