Wandering patients

I recently received an e-mail from a gentleman named Tim Holmgren. He wanted to let me know that he was posting a previous article I wrote, "The Long Goodbye" on his Web site, MissingPatients.com.

After exploring Holmgren's Web site and having a pleasant phone conversation with him, he helped me to realize how important it is for caregivers to make use of today's modern technology when it comes to preventing and/or handling patients who are at risk for wandering.

MissingPatients.com is designed for caregivers and family members alike to file vital information that would be needed in case a loved one wanders from home. Caregivers have the ability to upload current photos, addresses, phone numbers and crucial background information needed for police departments and possibly search and rescue teams. This data can be downloaded in a minute's time.

Holmgren stressed how essential it is for caregivers to update their data approximately every six months. There's no doubt that many Alzheimer's patients get shuffled around. For instance, I know of a family in which the daughter tried taking care of an afflicted parent but only to find out, months later, she just couldn't handle it. Soon the patient ended up at another sibling's home and then an adult facility. You can almost count on most of the paper work and vital information will be lost throughout the shuffle.

Updating photos are also important. Just from the vast weight loss during my father's last year, many of his past acquaintances would never have recognized him. When I clicked onto the alert section of the Missing Patients' Web site, the first thing that popped up was a man missing from Sanibel named Richard Cook. The site posted his photo, age, weight, eye and hair color and a description of the clothes he was last seen wearing. Sadly, the last time I checked, Richard was still missing.

Obviously, we need to use all of the new technology available to us, such as locator bands. EmFinders (www.emfinders.com) are one company that produces a miniaturized single-purpose cell phone designed to be worn like a wristwatch. Not to be mistaken for Dick Tracy's two-way radio watch, this device, only upon activation, dials 911 and reports its location. It works solely upon existing emergency 911 systems and needs to be charged approximately two hours every week. I've written several times about how every patient responds differently. In my father's situation he wasn't very mobile. He needed a walker to assist him which made his wandering a limited problem only throughout his earlier years of the disease; not that he wouldn't have wandered later on if he could. Accidents can happen in microseconds. One foot over the threshold and there is no telling what could happen next.