Hi, I’m going to share what has been recommended to me by my Moms doctors and nurses over the past year: *an alarm alert the person can wear in case of an emergency, won’t help track but if they wander off they can call for help. *a bracelet that says Alzheimer’s and provides a contact phone number so if they are found, you can be contacted. *on my doors that go outside I have alarms that ping my phone so I know when the doors are being opened. *I also set up cameras on the doors and in my living room and kitchen that I can check on an app on my phone. think of you. This is not an easy road for any of us, including the people we are caring for.
Here on the forum I heard about this alarm and got it on Amazon. I put it on the door knob at night since my mom has auditory hallucinations and sometimes thinks people are knocking in the middle of the night. I have also found her downstairs in the apartment’s parking garage. She has set it off like two or three times and the beeping wakes me up so I can tell her to stay put and not open the door. It’s been a great solution. My mother does not live alone, she lives with me.
check out the alarm, I believe they have several models and one might fit for your door.
The watch was free; you pay for a 30 minute/month plan. It tracks the person (you can label regularly visited places), you can call them, and there's an SOS button for them to call you. I also got a RoadID that attaches to the band. Police/EMS can look up their medical information that you input.
The watch also detects falls.
I hope that you find an easy solution that gives you peace.
Check out the third column on this Alzheimer's Org chart: -https://www.alz.org/media/mnnd/documents/102-safety_and_technology-forrest_clark-medical_alert_system.pdf
I've heard of a watch (maybe Apple?) that has a voice activated emergency watch.
GPS watch with emergency phone: Google "GPS watch with emergency phone."
First, prevention. Second, we attached a tracker to my father's shoe - he was obsessed with having shoes on so we worked with that behavior as a just-in-case.
Keeping her from wandering off should be a priority, I agree with others here. If she continues to somehow escape your house and wander off, it may be time to consider placing her in a memory care unit. Some measures that can be taken to prevent her from wandering off would be
1.) Install double-keyed door knobs (door knobs that require keys on both sides of the knob to unlock it) on either her bedroom door (you can lock the door just at night, when she is supposed to be asleep), or else on all doors that lead outside (the front door, patio door, door to garage, etc.). Have a professional locksmith install this, these types of door locks are quite hard to install oneself.
2.) If your house has a patio door leading to the backyard which would not allow for a double-keyed doorknob, try drilling a screw eye into the stud of the wall closest to the patio door, and then looping a chain through the patio door handle and the screw eye; attach both ends of this chain to a combination lock or a keyed padlock. Screw eyes can be found at Home Depot at the link -
Chains small enough to fit through a screw eye can also be found at Home Depot.
If she does wander out, the consequences could be quite disastrous. It may take hours to find her, during which she could succumb to harsh weather/the elements. She could easily cross busy streets or intersections. She could hide in a storm drain, behind an alley, or in some other obscure place where it would, again, take hours to find her, if even at all, sometimes; she could also hop on a bus. Basically, once they wander out, you do not know even which direction they went in, and it could be very hard to locate them.
I hope that you are able to handle this difficult situation.
My husband’s doctor stressed it’s not necessarily being lost that’s the worst part of wandering, it’s not being dressed appropriately - no shoes, no coat, no gloves… The temps here have been below zero several days in our area & THAT is a bigger danger right now. One morning this summer my husband was in the backyard in just his underwear. Heaven forbid he does something like that in the winter. Prevention of wandering is the priority. A wearable tracker of any sort only works if it’s worn.
Safety for her will begin with prevention of her " wandering off" ... How to effectively accomplish this depends on living arrangements, ( does she live in her own home or with family?) .... Baby monitors have become sophisticated, other in home camera monitor systems, bed alarms, door alarms are all used by many people at some point who struggle with the " safety" of a loved one with dementia. So rather than GPS tracking , I suggest looking into preventing her leaving... A lot depends on your and your family's availability, proximity, endurance and, your mother's increased level of care needs. I am sure that you are also conversing with her primary care physician or Geriatric specialist for the assessment needs of her level of care and their recommendations; this is a vital part of her care and, your peace of mind.
One thing I found helpful when my husband could no longer be left alone was an alarm system that went off if he opened an outside door. That way I could always catch him before he got lost. Unfortunately, he started trying to go out at night, so I was constantly being woken up. After 4 months of not much sleep, I gave up and put him in Memory Care - one of the saddest days of my life, but at least he was in a safe place.
sounds like you did the right thing. keeping him safe at home was not possible, especially for just one caregiver. I hope he adjusted OK and you can visit with him.
i'm unsure where you are located however in california they have LA Find - which is an anklet that is worn and should the person wander off can be tracked in real time by the police. that said i agree with a lot of comments above - once someone is starting to wander off it's maybe time to start considering alternatives.
These devices like lift alert or apple watch do work but only if they are worn. Many many times we found mom without her life alert or even her portable phone with her.
Fortunately her senior community does phone check ins and send people to check on residents if they do not answer their phones.
Not sure if GPS's will work. Many devices that I am aware of will have to be regularly recharged, so the wandering off condition makes GPS an ineffective option.
Consider the life alert with fall detection that never requires recharging, but your mother must wear the device for 24 hours to be effective and Save Her Life.
Your mom is no longer safe living alone. Best option is placement into a care facility where she will be supervised 24 hours.
Get a Tile and attach it to the small of her back with an adhesive, where she can't reach it. That's how my friend found his tortoise after it escaped.
Check with you local sheriff's office to see if they have a program to address the issue. We live near the county line and both counties have a program where you can get a special bracelet or anklet to track a person if they wander. I don't think they charge for it.
I highly recommend doing this even if a loved one is in a facility because the husband of a friend wandered during the night and fortunately someone driving by saw him where he had fallen on the side of the road. They called the authorities who then had to try and find where he had wandered from and the facility had not even missed him yet! Even in a secured facility, residents can find a way to leave unnoticed.
Personal opinion but as soon as wandering becomes an issue she should not be living alone. I would say the same if there was another safety issue. Wandering, falls, leaving appliances on that should be off ( stove)or turning off appliances that should be left on(furnace) are 2 examples. But there are watches, phones and “tiles” that can facilitate tracking. You should also let the local police department that there is a vulnerable adult so that if she does wander they will be more willing to initiate a search immediately.
Bought my step-mother two, both were lost outside in days. She is now where she belongs in Memory Care. She has escaped 2 times, they found her, thank God!
Carolyndsch, since your Mom had gotten up at night and went outside, one thing I have read is to place a black throw rug in front of the exit doors. A person with dementia will think the throw rug is a deep hole in the floor and will be afraid to step into it. Remove said rug during the day so Mom won't see that it is actually a rug. Hope this will work.
I wonder this, also. I think that any external devices (necklace, Apple Watch, etc.) will most likely be lost, particularly if loved one is in a facility. I, too, wonder if an implanted small device could legally be implanted in a cognitively impaired person. Could be some legal issues surrounding this, but it would be good to hear from others as to whether or not this could be done...
You need to install latch locks on the exterior doors, high enough so that mom can't reach them. Tracking devices aren't the answer for dementia patients. 24/7 care in a locked safe environment is.
Carolyndsch, forget about a GPS, the main issue is that your Mom should NOT be wandering.
If she wishes to go out, then someone needs to be with her. She should not be on her own, anything could happen. Especially now a days when car drivers are distracted by their cellphones, etc.
I absolutely agree ! She got up during the night , luckily she didn’t get out of the yard when I caught her … it just terrifies me it’ll happen again, I have taken precautions but still …
It's worth a try but unfortunately this is a short term "solution". She really needs 24/7 supervision now. You never know when she will wander again. Poor thing.
Yep. Or a child's 'jiobit' or a smartwatch, or an Amazon Tile.
But you have to keep the tracking device on the person, which often proves to be next to impossible.
There's always the fall monitor. Mother's had a tracking device on it, but IDK what brand it was. Since she took her fall pendant off all the time it wasn't really that useful. The day she died, she fell and the monitor wasn't on her, so she laid alone for about 1/2 hr.
No matter what we put on my MIL, she will not wear it. That;s kind of the biggest problem with all tracking devices. If the person refuses to wear it, you're back at square one.
Yea that’s why I was thinking about the watch … she wouldn’t know what the fall monitor was and wouldn’t keep it on , but a watch she is used to wearing …. Thanks for sharing!
We use an Apple smartwatch that I can track from my Apple smartwatch and both of our Apple smartphones. We have the app Find My Device. It works, but it shouldn't be the only way to keep track. For one thing, eventually they will forget how to use it or that they should wear it.
By then, more oversight is needed, but you have to pay close attention so you know when they get to that point. And if she's already wandered, you're already there. It's time to start looking for a care facility where she will be safe. All the tracking devices in the world will not keep her safe in the interim from when she takes off until you find her.
Look up Silver Alerts. That's when the police are notified and start looking for them and asking the public's help. Unfortunately the demented wanderer is sometimes not found until they've fallen in a pond and drowned. You don't want that to happen to her.
I’m going to share what has been recommended to me by my Moms doctors and nurses over the past year:
*an alarm alert the person can wear in
case of an emergency, won’t help track but if they wander off they can call for help.
*a bracelet that says Alzheimer’s and provides a contact phone number so if they are found, you can be contacted.
*on my doors that go outside I have alarms that ping my phone so I know when the doors are being opened.
*I also set up cameras on the doors and in my living room and kitchen that I can check on an app on my phone.
think of you. This is not an easy road for any of us, including the people we are caring for.
check out the alarm, I believe they have several models and one might fit for your door.
https://www.amazon.com/SABRE-Door-Handle-Alarm-Vibration-Triggered/dp/B01L3R5LXE/ref=asc_df_B01L3R5LXE/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198057875972&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6024295949591630219&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031333&hvtargid=pla-373086273994&psc=1
https://www.angelsense.com/gps-tracker-watch/
The watch was free; you pay for a 30 minute/month plan. It tracks the person (you can label regularly visited places), you can call them, and there's an SOS button for them to call you. I also got a RoadID that attaches to the band. Police/EMS can look up their medical information that you input.
The watch also detects falls.
I hope that you find an easy solution that gives you peace.
-https://www.alz.org/media/mnnd/documents/102-safety_and_technology-forrest_clark-medical_alert_system.pdf
I've heard of a watch (maybe Apple?) that has a voice activated emergency watch.
GPS watch with emergency phone: Google "GPS watch with emergency phone."
1.) Install double-keyed door knobs (door knobs that require keys on both sides of the knob to unlock it) on either her bedroom door (you can lock the door just at night, when she is supposed to be asleep), or else on all doors that lead outside (the front door, patio door, door to garage, etc.). Have a professional locksmith install this, these types of door locks are quite hard to install oneself.
2.) If your house has a patio door leading to the backyard which would not allow for a double-keyed doorknob, try drilling a screw eye into the stud of the wall closest to the patio door, and then looping a chain through the patio door handle and the screw eye; attach both ends of this chain to a combination lock or a keyed padlock. Screw eyes can be found at Home Depot at the link -
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-4-in-x-2-1-2-in-Stainless-Steel-Screw-Eye-2-Pack-803704/205883024
Chains small enough to fit through a screw eye can also be found at Home Depot.
If she does wander out, the consequences could be quite disastrous. It may take hours to find her, during which she could succumb to harsh weather/the elements. She could easily cross busy streets or intersections. She could hide in a storm drain, behind an alley, or in some other obscure place where it would, again, take hours to find her, if even at all, sometimes; she could also hop on a bus. Basically, once they wander out, you do not know even which direction they went in, and it could be very hard to locate them.
I hope that you are able to handle this difficult situation.
How to effectively accomplish this depends on living arrangements,
( does she live in her own home or with family?) .... Baby monitors have become sophisticated, other in home camera monitor systems, bed alarms, door alarms are all used by many people at some point who struggle with the " safety" of a loved one with dementia. So rather than GPS tracking , I suggest looking into preventing her leaving...
A lot depends on your and your family's availability, proximity, endurance and, your mother's increased level of care needs.
I am sure that you are also conversing with her primary care physician or Geriatric specialist for the assessment needs of her level of care and their recommendations; this is a vital part of her care and, your peace of mind.
Many many times we found mom without her life alert or even her portable phone with her.
Fortunately her senior community does phone check ins and send people to check on residents if they do not answer their phones.
Consider the life alert with fall detection that never requires recharging, but your mother must wear the device for 24 hours to be effective and Save Her Life.
Your mom is no longer safe living alone. Best option is placement into a care facility where she will be supervised 24 hours.
I highly recommend doing this even if a loved one is in a facility because the husband of a friend wandered during the night and fortunately someone driving by saw him where he had fallen on the side of the road. They called the authorities who then had to try and find where he had wandered from and the facility had not even missed him yet! Even in a secured facility, residents can find a way to leave unnoticed.
But there are watches, phones and “tiles” that can facilitate tracking. You should also let the local police department that there is a vulnerable adult so that if she does wander they will be more willing to initiate a search immediately.
Good luck.
If she wishes to go out, then someone needs to be with her. She should not be on her own, anything could happen. Especially now a days when car drivers are distracted by their cellphones, etc.
But you have to keep the tracking device on the person, which often proves to be next to impossible.
There's always the fall monitor. Mother's had a tracking device on it, but IDK what brand it was. Since she took her fall pendant off all the time it wasn't really that useful. The day she died, she fell and the monitor wasn't on her, so she laid alone for about 1/2 hr.
No matter what we put on my MIL, she will not wear it. That;s kind of the biggest problem with all tracking devices. If the person refuses to wear it, you're back at square one.
By then, more oversight is needed, but you have to pay close attention so you know when they get to that point. And if she's already wandered, you're already there. It's time to start looking for a care facility where she will be safe. All the tracking devices in the world will not keep her safe in the interim from when she takes off until you find her.
Look up Silver Alerts. That's when the police are notified and start looking for them and asking the public's help. Unfortunately the demented wanderer is sometimes not found until they've fallen in a pond and drowned. You don't want that to happen to her.