Elder Care: Silver Alerts now in 24 states

Alert system for missing adults, Silver Alerts can quickly broadcast vital information.

Driving down the highway last night, my eye caught the flashing advisory lights….. “Silver Alert  * Green Toyota Camary * Call 357”.  I had known about Amber Alerts, those freeway signs that alert drivers that a child had been abducted and is in severe and immediate danger. Amber alerts encourage drivers to report sightings of a specified suspect car that might be transporting a child in need of help. But this Silver Alert was something new to me.

Like the Amber Alerts, Silver Alerts were designed to create a widespread lookout to locate adults needing help. In the case of the Silver Alerts, these are directed toward finding an elderly person who may be suffering from some type of cognitive impairment such as dementia in which they may wander away or become disoriented. While wandering is most often associated with  dementia in elderly, wandering behavior is also present among the people with Autism.

Silver Alerts were first created in 2006 when Oklahoma passed a resolution in their House of Representatives calling for a system to find missing seniors. In response, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety added Silver Alert notifications to the statewide alerts sent to law enforcement agencies and the media for rapid distribution.  Georgia followed suit in that same year, enacting legislation to create a state-wide alert program after a two-year case of a missing 68-year Alzheimer´s victim in Atlanta, who was found 500 yards from her home eight months after her disappearance.  Public efforts to to locate missing seniors have been aided by the passage of legislation adopting Silver Alert or similar notification systems in 24 states, with another 8 states considering legislation.  Is your state included in the list?

On the national level, the National Silver Alert Act was passed by the House of Representatives in February, 2009 on a voice vote, and the bill is currently pending in the Senate. If passed, the National Silver Alert Act would establish a national Silver Alert Communications Network within the Department of Justice to assist regional and local search efforts for missing seniors. States would receive federal monies to support  Silver Alert plans, networks, and training, and would make competitive grants availabler to public agencies and/or nonprofit private organizations to maintain a national resource center and database for tracking missing adults.

The National Silver Alert Program in Palm Harbor, Florida, has designed a free, online registration program open to senior citizens and individuals with cognitive disorders like Alzheimer´s Disease. The program was devised to maintain a database of personal information of a senior or impaired person regardless of age, who wish to have their vital health, personal, medical and caregiver information readily available in the event of an emergency. This  information can be given to law enforcement authorities in order to assist in their search of a missing adult.

A similar program is sponsored by a Westerly, Rhode Island start-up company, Missing Patient.  This alert and ID system  was designed to quickly gather information needed by medical professionals, police and private citizens to help find missing people, such as those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Also free through online registration, access to the MissingPatient.com database is limited to only police and hospitals that are registered through the system, but allows registered users to search for the people they themselves have registered through the system. Information can be transmitted digitally by sms, email or fax.

MedicAlert and Alzheimer’s Association Safe Return Program is a fee-based,  24-hour nationwide emergency response service for individuals with Alzheimer’s or a related dementia who wander or have a medical emergency. If a registered user becomes lost, caregivers can call an 800-number to activate a community support network, including local Association chapters and law enforcement agencies, to help reunite the family member or caregiver with the person who wandered.

If you are the caregiver for a senior who may be the focus of a Silver Alert, make sure you have contact numbers, a recent photograph, and a set of fingerprints if available to share with authorities who may be called to help find a missing adult.  Detailed information about a missing person can enhance search efforts and gain precious time in finding a missing person and treating resulting injuries from a fall or other accident accident suffered, so it is also adviseable that you have the medical background and details at hand.

If you are in need of someone to help provide eldercare to your loved ones, look for capable, competent care at Sunshine Help, the fastest-growing online service provider directory in the U.S.  Download our guide on chosing a capable home care service provider from the Sunshine Help Resource Center.

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