A writer for The Mercury, Sarah Fleener, recently reported on a long-running, but little-publicized effort to keep Alzheimer’s and dementia sufferers safe, in the article, “Area police learn about ‘Safe Return’ of Alzheimer’s patients.”
The “Safe Return” program is an effort to keep people like Art Carter, a former psychotherapist in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, safe. Carter was quoted as saying, “I have three master’s, and I don’t have a Ph.D., but I should have one in forgetfulness… These days, it seems my three favorite words are ‘I don’t know.’”
Carter, however, is registered in the Alzheimer’s Association’s “Safe Return” program, a database with registered Alzheimer’s and dementia sufferers with links to law enforcement and 24-hour access to pertinent information about the registrants. If a person who is registered with the program turns up missing, police can call a hotline and find out the individual’s personal information, other medical conditions, and contact information of caregivers or family.
This preventative program was started in 1993 and has successfully managed to reunite 11,000 dementia or Alzheimer’s sufferers with their families or caregivers. The program also conducts training seminars for police officers, teaching them the best ways to approach an individual suffering from cognitive memory failure or delusions, and educating them on Alzheimer’s and dementia in general.
This is a valuable service, since the Alzheimer’s Association estimates that six out of 10 elderly people with Alzheimer’s or dementia will get lost after wandering away. This translates to a huge number when one considers that there are an estimated 4.5 million sufferers of Alzheimer’s disease in the U.S. alone.
For more information on the “Safe Return” program, and how to register yourself or someone you know, go to www.alz.org/safereturn.
Recommended Reading