New tracking device restores independence

Becoming lost or disorientated, even in familiar environments, is a common and distressing problem for dementia sufferers, but a GPS tracking device newly developed by Alzheimer’s Australia could solve the problem.

The new system, Safe2Walk, has already been tried and tested in Western Australia and New South Wales, in a move to give sufferers greater independence, while reducing the burden of missing person searches for police.

The Safe2Walk locater can be worn by people with dementia on a lanyard around the neck or clipped onto a belt. Families can log-on to the website and see where their loved one is.

The device updates the person’s location every 60 seconds, reducing stress for carers so they know when a person with dementia might be wandering.

It also works as a mobile phone, allowing the person wearing the device to make instant calls to family.

The mobile phone component of the Safe2Walk is activated by a single button that calls the carer’s phone, and if the call cannot be connected, it diverts to the numbers of other nominated carers.

According to Alzheimer’s Australia’s research manager, Jason Burton, the device aims to stop vulnerable people becoming lost, with research showing about 40% of people with dementia go missing at least once.

Mr Burton helped to develop the device which uses a combination of GPS and mobile phone technology.

“In 99% of cases the carer has gone to pick them up, but there was one case where they couldn’t and the police were able to contact us to get the exact GPS location of this person to rescue them,” Mr Burton says.

“So, basically what it does is it has a GPS location chip in it and that pings satellites which then tells us exactly where the device is at any point in time, and it then sends that information via the mobile phone network to our computer system,” he says.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman says the device could alert carers when a person with dementia first becomes disorientated, and believes the response could help avoid a large-scale police search.

Police estimate about one in three people who go missing have Alzheimer’s. It is also estimated up to 80% of people who suffer from the disease will wander at some stage.

The president of the Victorian branch of Alzheimer’s Australia, David Galbally QC, says the Safe2Walk will help Alzheimer’s sufferers regain their independence.

“For the sufferer it gives the individual freedom to know they can go out and choose to go for a walk without having to worry about whether or not they become disorientated,” Dr Galbally says.

He says the Safe2Walk has been very successful interstate and it could soon have thousands of users in Victoria.