Ankle/GPS monitors have potential other uses.

[Racket_Man]

You know those ankle monitors they put on confinded-at-home bailees or those on house arrest? A Sherriff in NY is proposing a different use for them. He wants to put them on seniors that have dementia or Alzheimers. The reason he is proposing this idea is it would greatly help in the event the senior wonders off and gets lost or confused.

http://www.yorkdispatch.com/nation/c...s-some-seniors

[dendawg]

I don't see a problem with this, as long as the person with Dementia/Alzheimer's has a history of wandering off.

[the_std]

To argue the other side of this, it is a potential slippery slope. The elderly have just as much a right to privacy and not having their movements monitored as we do. Who decides whether they're "eligible" for this? Unless there's a strict control over this, it could be an invasion of privacy. I can see it being abused.

[PepperElf]

Maybe it's me but… if a senior has dementia or Alzheimers, where is their care-provider then that they need an ankle bracelet for tracking?

I mean yes, sometimes accidents happen, but this sounds more like treating the mentally ill as criminals rather than as citizens in need of assistance.


And yes, who decides "eligibility". It may be my "tin hat" talking but, I do believe that diagnosing someone as mentally ill can often be used as a weapon against that person's freedom, rather than as something that's for their own good.

[protege]

Maybe it's me but… if a senior has dementia or Alzheimers, where is their care-provider then that they need an ankle bracelet for tracking?

Unfortunately, care-providers can't be with someone 24/7. Even if they are, shit can still happen. For example, I was at my grandmother's house one night, and she fell in her living room. I'd gotten up out of my chair, walked into the kitchen to put my dish in the sink...and the next thing I know, she was on the floor. She'd walked maybe 2 feet to a lamp, and while trying to turn it off, lost her footing and fell. That was pretty minor for what happened later...

A few years later, she had to move into an assisted-living center. She could no longer take care of herself, and it was taking a toll on my mother. So Grandma moved into a nice center about 15 minutes from us. For the first year, she was fine. She could handle not being able to jump into the car and head to the grocery store, not being able to cook her own meals anymore, etc. We took comfort in the fact that someone would look after her at night.

But, they can only do so much. All it takes is a minute, and she could have been out the door. The last year of her life, she did that twice. First time, she got caught by the woman at the front desk. Second time...she got trapped inside the building's vestibule. Seems she couldn't remember how which button to push to get out.

Where was she going? Home. She was "tired of waiting" and wanted to go "home." Never mind that her previous home was about 60 miles south, and had been sold! Had those doors not trapped her, she could have easily ended up in the nearby creek, or hit by a speeding car on Route 19

Then there are those people...who *do* get outside, wander off, and nobody can find them. Sadly, in some cases, by the time they do get found, they're either dead or seriously injured.

[Panacea]

To argue the other side of this, it is a potential slippery slope. The elderly have just as much a right to privacy and not having their movements monitored as we do. Who decides whether they're "eligible" for this? Unless there's a strict control over this, it could be an invasion of privacy. I can see it being abused.

Either the elder decides on their own (many decide to get things like Life Line) or their family gets appointed guardian who makes the decision.

This happens all the time when it comes to putting demented seniors into locked memory care units (like I did to my mother a year and a half ago). The privacy and liberty rights are balanced by the need to keep the senior safe.

Either way, a court needs to be involved if the elder does not consent on their own.

Maybe it's me but… if a senior has dementia or Alzheimers, where is their care-provider then that they need an ankle bracelet for tracking?

Alzheimers is a slow, progressive disease that is often not formally diagnosed until after something happens.

This is what happened to my mother. My brother and I knew for a couple of years that Mom was declining. She behaved more and more erratically. After about a year of this, I finally convinced my brother that something was wrong, but he wouldn't support me and act until a year after that, when she wandered off during his daughter's birthday party (held at Mom's house). We tried to get the county's help, but unless Mom allowed a nurse into the home to do an evaluation, they could do nothing.

Mom knew something was wrong . . . and wouldn't let the nurse into the house. Since we had no direct evidence that she was a danger to her self, there was nothing we could do.

That is, until she locked herself out of the house . . . after midnight. She wandered away from the house, got lost, and started banging on neighbor's doors, trying to find her way home. The neighbors called the cops, who took her to the ER, thinking it was a mental health issue.

It was actually a UTI. But when I got the news from Brother, I pounced on it. I talked to the pyschiatrist and got a neurologist involved, who ordered an MRI of the brain. The degenerative changes, plus Brother and my accounts of her behaviors was all he needed to make the diagnosis, and we then were able to get the court to appoint us guardians, and gave us the authority to put her in a locked assisted living facility for dementia patients.

We had to do this very quickly; Mom was demanding to leave the hospital and go home, and the hospital wanted us out because the longer she stayed the less profit they'd make from her care (they didn't lose money on her, just didn't make as much as they wanted).

Fortunately, SIL knew of a good place near where Brother lives, and it checked out. She has her own room, the meals are good (I've eaten there), and she gets daily occupational therapy to keep her motor skills going. Without it, she'd probably be wheelchair bound by now from a broken hip or worse. She has a better quality of life, gets to take field trips with the other residents and has regular interaction with people she didn't have before.

Still, residents of these kinds of facilities still can manage to get out. In winter, they often freeze to death before anyone can find them. This happened to one of my hospice's patients about a year ago.

So, I don't think the idea of GPS devices are so far fetched.

[Duelist925]

And yes, who decides "eligibility". It may be my "tin hat" talking but, I do believe that diagnosing someone as mentally ill can often be used as a weapon against that person's freedom, rather than as something that's for their own good.

Considering the legalities needed to actually have some declared as having alzheimers or similar, and the process needed to get guardianship...I doubt this could be easily weaponized.

There is, after all, a far cry from a simple accusation or claim and having the evidence to back it up.

[ExRetailDrone]

Still, residents of these kinds of facilities still can manage to get out. In winter, they often freeze to death before anyone can find them. This happened to one of my hospice's patients about a year ago.

So, I don't think the idea of GPS devices are so far fetched.

This actually happened to my grandma recently. She's been in a nursing home for a couple of years now, after her 2nd or 3rd bad fall at her home. Her memory had been bad for a while, but she's been declining pretty quickly in the past couple years, so she just couldn't keep living by herself. Even though her 3 kids are all close by, and 2 of them are retired, they simply can't be with her 24/7, so they made the tough decision to put her in a nursing home. The home is good, she's in the ward where she has lots of nursing help and can visit with other people so she's not so lonely. A few weeks ago, my mom said that she was told my grandma somehow got out of the building. As far as I know, there is always someone at the front desk, and like I said my grandma is in the area where there is round-the-clock care available. She still was able to get out of the building without being spotted, even though I'm sure she wasn't trying to be sneaky. This was in February in a far northern state, too, so it was really cold outside, and she didn't have any kind of proper clothing on for the elements. Luckily she was noticed to be missing and was found quickly, but I shudder to think what could have happened

[BrenDAnn]

What could have happened? Ask the family of the elderly woman that escaped the local hospital, and was later found in a ditch, in the middle of winter, dead. After hearing of cases like that, I can actually see where the idea for using the ankle bracelets like that would come from. It could prevent a lot of untimely tragedy, really.

[Lady_Foxfire]

There was a story in the paper today about a woman in Detroit who's been missing for three months. She wandered out the front door of her home one morning and hasn't been seen since.

I think that ankle bracelets might not be the way to go, since they're mostly worn by criminals and most people wouldn't want to invite that comparison, even for legitimate safety reasons. But I'm thinking that if you put a tracking chip in something like a LifeAlert pendant, then people might be more open to the idea.

[PepperElf]

Unfortunately, care-providers can't be with someone 24/7.

Although, does this really equate to a need of police monitoring? I know there's already civilian-made monitoring systems. "I've fallen and I can't get up" - et al - have been around for well over a decade.

IIRC those are monitored by a dedicated staff - rather than relying on the police to respond.

Plus, remember, if the police are the ones responding, it's not going to be instant. They have to prioritize their calls, so there's no guarantee that "relative left home in a state of confusion" might or might not be the highest priority.

And, most importantly, there's no legal requirement for them to respond at all. Warren V. District of Columbia.


So, you may be better off with a monitoring system that notifies the care-giver or a staff (assuming the staff is contracted to respond).

[HYHYBT]

Does their using the same technology necessarily mean they're involving the police?

[Duelist925]

You know, I'm honestly surprised someone Ala Life Alert HASN'T gone this route yet--offering a service whereby the mentally disabled or those with severe memory issues can be, with proper legalities to prevent it being abused, set up with a necklace or bracelet with a tracking chip, just in case.

[Racket_Man]

I came accross this article. IT seems the reliablility of these devices is questionable. Please note the article is about GPS tracking of convicted sex-offenders here in my state. So this MAY not be a viable solution until these devices are a little more perfected.

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/...nclick_check=1

[HYHYBT]

Interesting. How much better are they likely to be than a handheld GPS? Because those lose their signals indoors all the time.