Dementia Patient Wanders (Living at Home)

By:  Frank Engelman   |  Posted: October 16, 2020   |  Updated: April 18, 2023

Problem Description

 

Your loved one tends to wander out of the yard when you aren’t looking. She has dementia, and you worry she will get lost.

Although you could get an elderly GPS tracker, they may refuse to wear it, and cell coverage in your area might not be reliable.

 

What Motivated Me to Work on this Problem?

I was looking for a way for my brother to be alerted when his wife, who has Alzheimer’s, wanders away when he is not looking.

He has two problems that complicate a solution, with the first being that he lives in a rural area with NO cell coverage by ANY provider. The second is that his wife refuses to wear a band or a tag. So, the solution must not rely on cell coverage and must be very small to be hidden in her clothing.

 

Various Solutions

Together with the Tech-enhanced Life team, I have been looking at a number of solutions for this problem.

Scroll down to see the specific solution I came up with for my brother’s specific circumstance.

For more information, you can learn about my personal experience solving Alzheimer’s wandering, and read an overview of a broad range of solutions at “Location Devices and Trackers for Dementia“.

 

View Solutions from the Longevity Explorers