Hi,
I’ve tried searching round the forums for information, but can’t quite find what I’m after…… so here we go ……. Realising that the question of ‘electronic tagging’ is a bit sensitive because of civil liberty issues.
Anyhow, my Dad is about 2 years down the line from being diagnosed. If someone doesn’t know him, they probably don’t think anything is wrong. However, his memory is getting increasingly bad. Mum can’t ask him to go out and buy something for instance …… he gets agitated that he’s going to forget….. and quite frequently does in any case! However, even though he’s 76, he’s an incredibly fit man and has always been a great walker. He likes to go off for walks on his own, perhaps including getting on local buses. But, Mum has suspected on a couple of occasions that he has got off buses at the wrong step and then walked for ages until he’s picked up a landmark he’s familiar with and managed to then get home. Mum has put contact details on a slip of paper in his bus pass so if worse came to worse, someone would know where he’s supposed to go. However, on Saturday he got lost! The first Mum knew was a phone call from him; a lady had let him borrow a mobile phone. He wasn’t too far away; the lady directed him back in the right direction. (As an aside…. It’s a lovely example of people still being willing to help others, for which I’m so very grateful). Mum did phone me and I was on the point of getting the car out to ‘cruise round’ to try to find him but before I had chance to, he got back home under his own steam. Now….. we can’t insist that Dad doesn’t go out on his own. That is in itself an infringement of liberties! Mum can’t always go with him ….. don’t think she could keep up with him! So….. I was thinking along the lines of a small GPS tracking device to put in with his bus pass (which he always as with him) or somewhere similar and if Mum gets at all worried because he’s been out longer than expected, she can phone me and I could trace him via the Internet ….. ??? Or something like that. Is there anything out there that fits this kind of suggestion? Could the devices for cars be adapted? Or something involving mobile phones (although he isn’t a mobile phone user, so that could be an issue in itself).
Thanks for any help you can offer.
Elaine
I’ve tried searching round the forums for information, but can’t quite find what I’m after…… so here we go ……. Realising that the question of ‘electronic tagging’ is a bit sensitive because of civil liberty issues.
Anyhow, my Dad is about 2 years down the line from being diagnosed. If someone doesn’t know him, they probably don’t think anything is wrong. However, his memory is getting increasingly bad. Mum can’t ask him to go out and buy something for instance …… he gets agitated that he’s going to forget….. and quite frequently does in any case! However, even though he’s 76, he’s an incredibly fit man and has always been a great walker. He likes to go off for walks on his own, perhaps including getting on local buses. But, Mum has suspected on a couple of occasions that he has got off buses at the wrong step and then walked for ages until he’s picked up a landmark he’s familiar with and managed to then get home. Mum has put contact details on a slip of paper in his bus pass so if worse came to worse, someone would know where he’s supposed to go. However, on Saturday he got lost! The first Mum knew was a phone call from him; a lady had let him borrow a mobile phone. He wasn’t too far away; the lady directed him back in the right direction. (As an aside…. It’s a lovely example of people still being willing to help others, for which I’m so very grateful). Mum did phone me and I was on the point of getting the car out to ‘cruise round’ to try to find him but before I had chance to, he got back home under his own steam. Now….. we can’t insist that Dad doesn’t go out on his own. That is in itself an infringement of liberties! Mum can’t always go with him ….. don’t think she could keep up with him! So….. I was thinking along the lines of a small GPS tracking device to put in with his bus pass (which he always as with him) or somewhere similar and if Mum gets at all worried because he’s been out longer than expected, she can phone me and I could trace him via the Internet ….. ??? Or something like that. Is there anything out there that fits this kind of suggestion? Could the devices for cars be adapted? Or something involving mobile phones (although he isn’t a mobile phone user, so that could be an issue in itself).
Thanks for any help you can offer.
Elaine