By Nick Diamantides, Staff Writer
According to several studies undertaken in the United States, about 70 percent of Alzheimer’s patients wander away from home or places they are visiting and get lost at least once during the duration of their illness. Most are found within minutes or hours, but some stay lost for days or weeks, and some die while lost.
Statistics show that if a lost dementia patient is found within 24 hours, they are returned home safely. If more time than that elapses, the survival rate drops to about 50 percent, according to recent studies. Obviously, a person with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia who wanders is in a life-threatening situation.
Robert J. Koester, who does research for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, recently compiled a list of ten things caregivers and family members can do to prevent the wandering of someone suffering with dementia. A condensed paraphrase of his advice follows:
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1. Install locks that require keys even on the inside and keep the keys safely hidden from the person you don’t want to wander. Sometimes just placing hook-and-eye latches on the outside screen door is effective, but keep in mind that the patient may panic if they cannot open the door.
2. Install locks on windows. Alzheimer’s patients who feel the need to escape will try exiting through a window if possible.
3. Build fences and gates (with locks) around your yard. Make sure they are at least six feet tall and provide no footholds that can be used for climbing. Sometimes, just having a yard he or she can use, will satisfy an Alzheimer’s patient’s need to go for a walk.
4. Use emergency IDs. This has to include sewing a label on the person’s clothing that contains their name, address and phone number. In spite of all your precautions, the patient may still find a way to wander away, and you can never depend on them to carry their own ID.
5. Look into purchasing a wanderer security system. Products on the market today include soft bracelets that trigger an alarm when a patient passes a certain point, wrist transmitters that send signals to a tracking device, and bracelets that can be monitored by a GPS satellite. Other high-tech products are available as well.
6. Dress patients in bright colored clothing. This makes it easy for searchers to spot them in a crowd and from a distance.
7. Keep all house keys and car keys in an undisclosed place and out of reach of the patient. Having access to a car can enable them to be several miles away before you even discover they are gone.
8. Never leave an Alzheimer’s patient alone in a car–even if you think you will only be gone for a minute or two. It only takes seconds for a panicked individual to get out of the car and quickly wander away.
9. Avoid leaving an Alzheimer’s patient home alone. Deciding when a person suffering with dementia can no longer be left alone even for short periods is difficult, and it places a very heavy burden on the shoulders of a person who is the sole caregiver.
To avoid an emotional meltdown, you need to enlist the help of family members, friends and neighbors. You might want to also hire a young adult to serve as babysitter several times a week so you can take a break.
You also should ask for help from churches, high schools, boy scouts, girl scouts, community centers, senior citizen centers, local Alzheimer’s Association chapters and any other group that might be willing to help you care for someone with dementia.
The important thing to remember is that no matter how much you love the person, and how much you are committed to helping them, if you try to do it alone, eventually your caretaker responsibilities will feel like prison bars and you will find yourself strongly resenting the person you are trying to help. Don’t try to do it alone.
10. Find other useful materials to help. With safety as your number-one consideration, find creative ways to use household items to help you manage your loved one’s care.
Baby monitors or motion detectors that turn on lamps or radios can alert you to a patient’s movements. Visit a child safety center for other items you can use. For example, the elastic bands mothers attach to their wrists and the wrists of their child can help you avoid getting separated from an Alzheimer’s patient in a crowded area.
A wandering Alzheimer’s patient is in great danger, according to Koester. “You can take precautions to keep patients safe, but even the best caregiver or nurse will have experiences with wandering patients,” he said. “Take reasonable precautions, don’t panic and enlist the help of others to help you care for patients with Alzheimer’s disease.”
