GPS tags for dementia patients

[jenniferpa]

Moderator note: three threads on this same subject have been merged.

 

[lin1]

If my Mum had been a wanderer I would have had a Tag for mum and I would not have cared one whit if someone said it was an infringement of her rights, barbaric etc, on fact knowing me I would probably give them a few home truths

I consider it barbaric that a person can wander off/escape and die before they are found , their has been at least one report of this on here in the last 12 months .

 

[hollycat]

If my Mum had been a wanderer I would have had a Tag for mum and I would not have cared one whit if someone said it was an infringement of her rights, barbaric etc, on fact knowing me I would probably give them a few home truths

I consider it barbaric that a person can wander off/escape and die before they are found , their has been at least one report of this on here in the last 12 months .

Agree with your every word Lin.

I say the next bit with a slight tone of sarcasm in my voice:

However, the mental capacity acts intimates that we should allow dementia sufferers to make mistakes, even mistakes that might seem silly.

If the same people that wrote the mental capacity act are the ones who have a problem with tagging, NOW, we have ourselves a problem !

Sorry readers but anything that improves the quality of CARE for the dementia sufferer has to be a good thing............doesn't it ?

 

[janma221]

After a police search for my missing 85 year old mother she was spotted by a passing jogger who looked from a bridge and saw her stuck in the mud near the riverbank. Had he not spotted her and had help from a couple of lads to pull her out then hypothermia would have taken her. The police were great but didn't know where to look for her as she had wandered to a different place to her normal haunts as she said she couldn't find a bus stop so walked by the river to try and find a bus. Nothing barbaric about preventing an accident or death.

 

[Alias]

Making location devices work

The term "tagging" is just too emotive: I prefer "location services" and used well I think they can really help.

I've used location devices to help both people suffering from dementia and their family and friends who care for them. One enabled a farmer to walk around his farm and into the local town as and when he wanted rather than having to stay indoors or within sight of family. Another helps a son find his mother when she occasionally goes out and doesn't come back. It saves him and his family driving around worried and searching for hours in the night. He texts it and it texts him back with roughly where she is - or was the moment before!

There are issues with using them, like having to charge them every day and that they work best when they can see they sky - buildings can confuse them. The biggest is how to make sure they are taken when they go out and don't get lost. A little ingenuity works wonders. I don't like the bulky wrist or ankle versions, I prefer them small and light and unobtrusive.

I don't see so much deprivation of liberty as the giving of freedom and independence to both the person with dementia and their carers. That said I don't think they should be forced on anyone - well anyone except criminals!

 

[SWMBO1950]

.........on from my previous comment I would just like to say that we have had a couple of wanders on TP ending up loosing their lives. We read the desperate search that had started in an effort to find them. Had there been a way to track them it could just have prevented this tragic scenario and the end result so different. Safety above and ober anything else (JMO)

 

[Onlyme]

I love the idea but worry about the practicalities. My MIL was Houdini - she had stitches and got those out before she got home. She had a strapping on her arm and got that off before the DN had got to her car.

A lady in Mum's NH removed the cast off her arm 3 times before they gave up.

I know that MIL would have gone at anything that looked odd attached to her with a pair of scissors and probably drawn blood.

 

[Izzy]

This us the article in today's Times:

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/article3754167.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2013_05_01

 

[bmw777]

big brother is watching YOU

even a smart phone has tracking on it . so one of these phones could easily be used .
stitched inside a pocket .. but i guess it is a taste of the future where everyone will be tagged or tracked in the future .most of the population have mobile phones and they can be tracked at any time ?

 

[Saffie]

I

love the idea but worry about the practicalities.

i don't think it would be practical for everybody and nor would it work in every case - but if it saves one life, wouldn't it be worth trying?

It could be used for young children too.
We are talking small and inconspicuous not like the tags on offenders ankles.

 

[Countryboy]

Hi this so simple 75 to 80% of mobile phone owners are all ready tagged I have an Iphone 4S and it will show or identify my location every second whilst the phone is turned on not sure if or how that works if phone is turned

 

[LynneMcV]

I think it is an excellent idea - and more importantly, so does my husband. He isn't at the stage where he gets badly lost yet (though he has had to ask for help getting back from London the past couple of nights because he got a little confused).

When I first read the story a while back, including descriptions of it being 'barbaric' practice, we both thought it was an over-the-top reaction.

Maybe it was because we had just come through some very wintry weather and I was aware that at least three police searches (including search by helicopter) had taken place over the preceding few months. In one instance a vulnerable lady had gone missing for hours in the snow wearing just her nightclothes and slippers.

In such circumstances, finding the person quickly is vital. If a GPS brings vulnerable people back to safety quickly, then I am all for it - and I am reassured that if/when we reach such a stage with my husband, at least I will know that he was/is fully supportive of such action being taken on his behalf.

 

[Countryboy]

Actually I have a dementia diagnoses myself diagnosed in 1999 so I do have some insider on how dementia effects a persons daily living I have the Iphone 4s which at the moment I can use But if for some reason I was lost or passed away whilst out somewhere my family with the help of police could find me by tracking the Iphone I certainly wouldn’t want to tagged like a criminal or a pet

 

[Saffie]

Tony, the iphone is expensive and not everyone can afford one nor need it. I myself, caanot justify the expense of either buying one nor having one on contract for the amount of time I use a mobile. This would not be tagging as with a criminal or pet, simply a safety measure. Would that the young children who have been abducted were wearing such a device.

 

[Laineyapple]

GPS assistance

Those who think this us inhumane have no idea what they are talking about. Today my mum who has dementia went missing for the first time. She has had the illness for a few years now and goes out walking with her dog everyday and has never got lost. Today we spent 8 hours looking for her and as it was getting dark the police located her. The police, neighbours and friends all helped with our search including a police helicopter and it was a huge relief to find her safe and well. We are now talking about GPS possibly on a mobile phone as we do not want to have to be in this position again. It is not inhumane. What is inhumane is knowing there is something available to help and you don't end up using it and then the worst happens. How bad would you feel if something awful happened to a person you loved. I know if my mum got lost again, she would want to be found and be at home with her loved ones and her dog so this is an easy solution. We will be looking into this ASAP.

 

[Laineyapple]

Those who say this is barbaric have obviously not gone through the trauma of having someone they care about go missing!

My mum lives in supported housing as she couldn't manage living on her own. There are carers 24/7 BUT they can't (legally) and will not try to stop her from leaving the building (even when she could easily be distracted from doing so). The first time she wandered the staff didn't notice she hadn't come back after almost 4 hrs. After walking approx. 4 miles she wandered into a pub where people realised she had a problem, found her address, called a taxi and sent her back . This week another resident's daughter saw her a few miles from home and called them to say where she was. They called me at work but by the time I got to the location it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. I got family to help and after half an hour I had to go to the police. Fortunately again someone had found her and taken her to the security people in a shop, they called the police and they realised who it was and thankfully she was quite safe. Next time who knows.

If this technology is made widely available I would definitely want it for my mum because one day those kind people might not be around to help. I want my mum to be treated with dignity and respect but I also want her to be safe!

Totally agree with what you say.

 

[Laineyapple]

This was discussed on Radio 4 this morning. I think it might be useful for a dementia sufferer who lives with their carer but may wander when their back is turned. Some one I met who cares for his wife with dementia was absolutely distraught when he found his wife was not upstairs as he had thought but had gone from the property. She was missing for over a hour and luckily was spotted by a kind person who realised she was lost and could not give her name or address, invited her in for a cuppa and alerted the police. If she had one of these, then her husband could make sure she remembered to wear it and should she slip out again she could be more easily found.

But, for a person with dementia living alone I think it is not so useful. Firstly, how would you ensure it was worn. Secondly, it seems a bit inhumane to substitute this for providing more care. When my mum who had vascular dementia reached the wandering stage she basically had the reasoning power of a toddler as regards risk assessment. Would anyone suggest that it was OK to tag a toddler with one of these and then leave them to their own devices?

The lady on the radio, from Christchurch I think, who was advocating these GPS trackers said that they saved money on police searches and helicopters etc. and were given to people who had previuosly wandered off. It struck me that this was the nub of it, not what was appropriate for the dementia sufferer but that it saved money.
Tre

No the main point of this is to locate your loved one as quickly as possible, not to save money and I'm talking from a position where my mum has dementia. We have had a scare today which included an 8 hour search with a lot of help from the police and included a police helicopter. Luckily she was found just as it started to get dark. Next time we might not be as lucky so having GPS via a mobile phone has got to be our next option as we cannot go through this amount of worry again.

 

[clio_7]

Im in favor of these also. .. have one its way just now... I dont see it as a substitute for care, I see it as a back up.. that if all else fails I can locate my 81 yr father. The geo fence feature is tge thing im interested in, you set a parameter if the user wanders out of the usual area, it sends you an alert. It also has a SOS button. I see it something that cab hopefully assist my dads independence for as long as its physically possible



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