Silver Alert Missing Adult Alert System

[awakening2lite]

Ohio Launches a Missing Adult Alert System

6/20/08

EXCERPT

Missing adults will now be broadcast similar to how missing children are through the Amber Alert system.

Ohio law enforcement officials prepared to launch a new plan on Friday that creates a statewide emergency alert program to aid in tracking down missing adults who may be endangered.

The criteria of missing adult includes individuals who are 65 years of age or older or has a mental impairment. The local law enforcement agency must confirm that the individual is missing and determine that the disappearance of the individual would pose a threat of immediate danger of serious bodily harm or death of the person.

source: http://www.wlwt.com/news/16664952/detail.html

[Roamer]

That's the Silver Alert. Several states are trying to get it enacted.

It's a great idea, and good for Ohio!

[5boxersmom]

Ohio Creates Missing Adult Alert

Last Update: 11:57 am

Reported by: Tom McKee
Web produced by: Ian Preuth


A new program is being launched in Ohio to help find endangered adults.

The Missing Adult Alert is similar to the more familiar Amber Alert for missing children, but it's for men and women who are 65 years or older or have a mental impairment.

"The missing adult alert system provides resources and coordination between various government agencies, law enforcement, media and, most importantly the public who are the eyes and ears needed to located a missing person," said Mark Patchen, Technical Support Division Director of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.

The criteria to implement the Missing Adult Alert includes:

The local investigating law enforcement agency confirms that the individual is missing
The individual is 65 years of age or older or has a mental impairment
The disappearance of the individual poses a credible threat of immediate danger of serious bodily harm or death to the individual
There is sufficient descriptive information about the individual and the circumstances surrounding the individual's disappearance to indicate the activation of the alert will help locate the individual
Those criteria are similar to the guidelines used for issuing an Amber Alert. The Amber Alert was created in Dallas in the late 1990's after a young girl, Amber Hagerman, was kidnapped and later found murdered.

Since the program was put into place nationwide, 400 children under the age of 18 have been safely recovered.

A Regional Amber Alert program was put in place in 1999 as one of the first such programs in the nation.


Copyright 2008 The E.W. Scripps Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=3f3cd8da-335d-4b67-a2c7-608f647f7ce6

[5boxersmom]

I didn't see your thread when I started one. Sorry.

[awakening2lite]

I didn't see your thread when I started one. Sorry.

Please don't apologize, we've all done it. I'm glad to see the subject get more attention. :hifive:

[annalyzer]

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_silver26.3d2e309.html

Advocates want lifesaving Silver Alerts in California

10:00 PM PST on Sunday, January 25, 2009

By LAURIE LUCAS
The Press-Enterprise

Linda LeFlore thinks her 77-year-old aunt might still be alive if her disappearance had been broadcast by a coordinated warning system.

But the Golden State, the one with the highest population of people 65 and older, is not among the 12 states that have Silver Alerts, designed to find aging wanderers with dementia or Alzheimer's disease.

Congress began pushing last year for nationwide development of the program. But in California, discussion is "still ongoing" on legislation for a Silver Alert that was introduced last year by state Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-San Jose, said her spokesman Russ Lopez.

Similar to Amber Alert communications established in the mid-1990s to find missing children, authorities interrupt television and radio programs and flash information on electronic highway signs regionally or statewide.

On Dec. 2, police found LeFlore's aunt, Venora Whitmore, dead inside her car that had crashed into a drainage canal in Perris. She had been last seen Nov. 16 in Menifee, where she had dropped off two church members.

"She got disoriented in the dark and got lost trying to find her house," said LeFlore, of Moreno Valley. "I believe there's a great need for a Silver Alert. If we had more help, we might have found her sooner than after 16 days."

Denise Tarvin, of Visalia, said a Silver Alert might have saved her mentally disabled son.

On March 29, authorities found the remains of Steven Kandarian, 30, in a remote area east of UC Riverside. He had wandered away from his caregiver and went missing for three months.

Tarvin was unfamiliar with the bill proposed by Alquist, but said, "I would be behind it."

Experts say a Silver Alert is needed in this state, where 558,000 residents ages 55 and older are Alzheimer's patients. That's one-tenth of the nation's 5.2 million people living with the disease, said Jean Dickinson, a spokeswoman for the Alzheimer's Association, California Southland Chapter.

"A Silver Alert in this state would go a long way to improve public safety," Dickinson said.

Excellent Results

Tracking programs such as Project Lifesaver, Medic Alert and Safe Return report excellent results in recovering missing elders. But not all senior citizens can afford to enroll in emergency response programs and remote monitoring systems that include ID jewelry, personalized wallet cards or high-tech devices.

Colorado was the first to enact a Silver Alert Program in 2006. Protocol varies among the 11 states that followed suit but most require local law enforcement to confirm that the missing person suffers from some sort of dementia and is a danger to his or herself or others.

In Ohio, the individual must be at least 65. In North Carolina, no medical diagnosis or state residence is required and the program covers anyone 18 and older with dementia or cognitive impairment. In Texas, the alert must come within 72 hours of the mentally impaired person's disappearance and the missing senior must be at least 65 and a Texas resident.

CAMPAIGN ONGOING

Visiting Angels, an organization that provides in-home care for thousands of seniors in the United States, urges everyone to call and write their senators to sponsor federal legislation.

"We want to protect and maintain the dignity of seniors who wander," said Joan Roberts, who owns Visiting Angels of Riverside County.

Of the 108 Silver Alerts issued in North Carolina in 2008, officials said they found 99 people alive and another eight who were dead. One case is still open but authorities say they believe that person disappeared of his or her own will

Since Florida enacted its Silver Alert in October, officials safely recovered all 32 of its missing seniors. "It's still early, but we've had a positive response," said Kristen Perezluha, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Law Enforcement.

Opponents in some states, including New York, have rejected Silver Alert proposals because of budget concerns and fears of weakening Amber Alerts by overburdening law enforcement.

Administrators say the state programs are inexpensive to run because they piggyback on Amber Alert systems.

Last August, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the National Silver Alert Act that would provide support to the state initiatives and assist in their expansion. The bill would create a coordinator within the Department of Justice who would set voluntary guidelines and monitor state programs. The bill awaits Senate approval.

The death of an 86-year-old Florida woman, Mary Zeltzer, who disappeared from an assisted-living facility, prompted that state's and the federal legislation.

Zeltzer's daughter, Mary Lallucci, of Tallahassee, actively campaigned for both.

"As tragic as my mother's death was," she said, "I feel that some good has come out of it. I think my mother would be proud."

Reach Laurie Lucas at 951-368-9569 or llucas@PE.com

Alzheimer's facts

5.2 million U.S. residents have Alzheimer's disease

558,000 California residents, 55 or older, live with Alzheimer's

6 in 10 Alzheimer's sufferers wander from their homes at some time. Half of those who are not found within 24 hours suffer serious injury or die.

Source: Jean Dickinson, spokeswoman for the Alzheimer's Association, Southland chapter

[annalyzer]

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090126/OPINION01/901260321/1008

Silver Alert deserves lawmakers' attention

Today's Topic: Search is on for seniors

Tennessee should get on board with a growing number of states that have implemented "Silver Alert" programs, a warning system meant to help find and recover seniors who wander from their homes.

Sen. Diane Black, R-Gallatin, is proposing a Silver Alert bill in the Tennessee General Assembly. The system would work like the well-known Amber Alert, which alerts the public about missing children. The Amber Alert system has proved successful. A Silver Alert should be just as effective.

Elderly citizens who develop dementia, particularly caused by diseases such as Alzheimer's, can go wayward. They become confused, lost and unable to communicate. A coordinated system linking law enforcement and media outlets can help an entire community be on watch and help bring lost citizens back to their homes.

Some of Tennessee's neighboring states, including Georgia, North Carolina, Missouri and Virginia, have Silver Alert programs. Georgia calls its program Maddie's Call. Missouri issues an Endangered Persons Advisory. North Carolina applies it to individuals who have dementia or other cognitive impairments.

Lawmakers should seriously consider the strong arguments for establishing a Silver Alert system. For starters, anyone who has known a person with dementia can understand the problem of people wandering away from their surroundings and can readily understand how they become disoriented.

In the past, sending out a warning might have been a good idea in concept but impractical in many ways because communications were limited. But increasingly, communications systems are becoming so commonplace, large populations can be connected quickly and easily through modern technology.

Like many other issues related to technology, as devices become more common expenses go down. It's becoming cost-effective to link up and communicate, with mobile and hand-held devices becoming commonplace.

Such a system should be carefully crafted. Just saying Silver Alerts are a good idea is not sufficient for implementing a system.

One concern raised about such laws is that they are subject to abuse, which occurs when people casually allow people to wander off and expect law enforcement to continually bring them back. Another worry is that if such alerts become too numerous they can tend to be ignored and lose their effectiveness. Care is needed in establishing a system that is well coordinated, effective and still rare enough to get the public's attention.

The horror and fear of having a loved one go missing are the same for a senior as with a child. Whether it is an ill elderly person who has become lost or a child who is abducted, they are vulnerable and need the public's rapt attention.

Legislators should look favorably on a Silver Alert system.

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http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-12/1233034018296760.xml&coll=1

'Silver Alert' proposed to search for missing

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

A bill that would set up a statewide system for quickly sending out to the public a "Silver Alert" for a missing person believed to be suffering from dementia or some other cognitive impairment cleared the Senate Law, Public Safety and Veterans' Affairs Committee yesterday.

The bill would establish a Silver Alert system similar to the Amber Alerts that go out to the public when a child is missing.

"Every year more than 400 persons with dementia and other cog nitive disorders go missing in New Jersey," said Sen. John Girgenti (D-Passaic), a sponsor. "According to nationwide statistics published by the Alzheimer's Association, up to half of such cases end in injury or death when the missing person is not found within 24 hours."

The alert would go out if a person is missing and is believed to be suffering from dementia or another cognitive disorder; a missing person's report has been filed; the missing person is believed to be in danger; there is reason to believe the alert will help locate the person, and there is information available that could help find them.

[annalyzer]

http://www.connpost.com/breakingnews/ci_11566083

Proposal would help find missing elderly

By MariAn Gail Brown
STAFF WRITER
Updated: 01/27/2009 06:29:58 PM EST

For years, Joseph Mikucionis had an deal with his wife Lucille. He had stopped driving their family car any great distance. But every morning, he opened the garage, warmed up the car for her and backed it out to the bottom of the driveway -- a few feet away -- for the two of them to run errands together.

Mikucionis, who was in his early 80s, often regaled his wife with stories about what was happening at his company in Milford. He'd tell her about some of the disputes that festered among his co-workers. His accounts always had a lot of details. Who got along with who. Who was slipping up on the job. And how he had to settle disagreements before they got of control. The way he told it, it was as though it happened yesterday or the day before.

"He went on and on for days about the problems there," Fairfield Police Sgt. James Perez recalls. "And she let him go on babbling, which is probably one of the worst things you can do with someone with Alzheimer's" because it helps keep them fixated on the subject.

One day, Mikucionis backed the family car out of the driveway. That was the last time his wife saw him alive.

It's stories like Mikucionis' -- an elderly Alzheimer's patient gone missing -- that are motivating Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to call on state lawmakers to enact "Silver Alert" legislation, similar to the much-acclaimed Amber Alert which has helped police find missing and abducted children. Thirteen states, including Rhode Island,

Ohio, Florida, Missouri and Kentucky, have Silver Alerts. And five others, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois are considering them.

Silver Alerts are an emergency notification system that allows law enforcement agencies to broadcast regional or statewide alerts for missing senior citizens and others with cognitive impairments, such as Alzheimer's and other dementias, using radio, television, electronic highway signs and potentially internet alerts on newspaper web sites.

Thirty-seven million people in the United States are 65 or older, constituting 12 percent of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Within the next two years, as the oldest baby boomers join the ranks of senior citizens, the U.S. Census Bureau says, this silver-haired set will grow faster rate than any other demographic group in any state. By 2015, Connecticut is projected to have 526,000 residents 65 and older. And 26 states are expected to double their 65-and-older population by 2030.

Perez welcomed the attorney general's Silver Alert push Tuesday before the General Assembly's Committee on Aging.

"I don't know if anybody in Connecticut is prepared to deal with the host of issues that our state is going to be faced with very soon as our oldest baby boomers reach retirement age and beyond as senior citizens. There are a host of health issues, along with other vulnerabilities that the elderly face," says Perez, who often speaks about crime against the elderly. "Scammers love to prey on them. So do thieves" who consider them easy marks for muggings or other crimes of violence.

Between 2001 and now, Fairfield police investigated at least 56 cases of missing senior citizens. Perez qualifies the department's statistics saying that the actual number is "probably much higher," because those 56 incidents represent the investigations where 911 dispatchers specifically made reference in their reports that a missing person was elderly or suffered from Alzheimer's.

According to the National Association of State Units on Aging, which keeps statistics on states with Silver Alert programs, most of the cost associated with the program are minimal and the alerts have not been "over used" as some state officials initially feared.

In North Carolina, where 151 alerts have been issued since 2007, the highest number of alerts anywhere in the country, all but six people were found alive. Georgia has broadcast 68 silver alerts since July 2006, and every missing elderly person was found. And Florida, which has put out 27 alerts since October 2008, has located all but six of its missing senior citizens.

Trumbull Police Chief Thomas H. Kiely says missing senior citizens in his town are few, perhaps only one or two a year, nevertheless he backs Blumenthal's silver alert proposal.

"I think it's a good idea whenever you have someone who is missing," Kiely says. "The best thing you can do is have more people out looking for a person who may have wandered off. You can put hundreds of cops on the road searching for them, and it does only so much good.

"But the second you broadcast this alert on t.v., radio, the electronic highway signs and even the internet, on a newspaper's web site," Kiely says, "you exponentially increase the number of people looking out for this person -- and increasing the odds of finding him."

As for Mikucionis who backed his car out of his garage on Oct. 8, 1999, everyone from his wife, family and the police expected he was headed to where he once worked. He had talked about getting into his office, Perez says, to fix things there non-stop for days.

The route from Mikucionis home on Wilton Road in Fairfield would have taken him north on the Merritt Parkway. That's where it appears he intended to go.

But something distracted Mikucionis, and he ended up on Route 25 in Trumbull. Then he cruised north from where Route 25 ends as a 3-lane expressway to where it narrows after Route 111 into a narrow one-lane road in each direction. He traveled a couple of miles up the road, until his car crashed into Noelle's restaurant, killing him.

[annalyzer]

http://www.thehour.com/story/464061

Blumenthal: Alert would save dementia sufferers

Posted on 01/27/2009

By AMANDA NORRIS

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal urged the legislature on Tuesday to adopt an alert system targeted at senior citizens with dementia that is similar to the one used to help authorities locate missing children.

According to Blumenthal's proposal, the state Department of Public Safety would maintain records containing identifying information about Connecticut's senior citizens. That information would be broadcast to the public using radio, television, the Internet and other forms of media.

Unofficially called the "Silver Alert," the clearing house would be modeled after the Amber Alert system, which has been touted by law enforcement as being highly effective in locating missing children, according to Blumenthal.

Currently, there are 70,000 Connecticut residents suffering from some form of age-related dementia and 60 percent of them wander from their homes, according to Blumenthal.

"Very simply, a Silver Alert saves lives," Blumenthal wrote in a press release. "The Silver Alert system was brought to my attention by senior advocates who seek to quickly locate missing seniors. Especially during the cold winter or inclement weather, the longer a person is missing, the higher the likelihood of harm."

Thirteen other states use the Silver Alert system, Blumenthal said.

Barry Davis of Westport, told The Hour his wife Gina wandered on occasion during the last five years of her life as a result of her Alzheimer's disease.

The worst instance was during cold weather, and she was missing for 10 hours. Police mobilized a manhunt that included a bus stop in Bridgeport in search of Gina Davis. They found the 85-year-old woman after a Westport couple came home to find she had broken into their home because she had to use the bathroom. She had apparently changed clothes and was wearing a pair of men's running shorts.

Davis can laugh about the humor now, but that was one of many wandering episodes he found both stressful and frightening.

"When people wander, they don't even know that they are lost," Davis said.

Davis is skeptical about the Silver Alert system, he said, because he isn't sure the media could disseminate the information to the public quickly enough to save a senior in serious trouble.

Denise Cesareo, executive director of ElderHouse, an adult day care center in Norwalk, said the best way to protect seniors with dementia was constant supervision.

But caregivers cannot be with the elderly at all times, Cesareo said, and called the attorney general's proposal "a wonderful idea" that could give caregivers greater peace of mind.

"In the winter, seniors can wander without their coats on," Cesareo said. "We really can prevent them injury or even death in seniors."

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http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090129/NEWS01/301299835/-1/XML15

Published: Thursday, January 29, 2009

In persuit of Terry's Law

Illness spurs daughters to push for alert for seniors

http://nsimg.sv.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=NS&Date=20090129&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=301299835&Ref=AR&border=0&MaxW=253
Anne Conceison, left and Mary Stipe hold a picture of their mother, Teresa Canty Cahill. Cahill was 84 when she passed away in July. Conceison and Stipe are pushing legislation to require an alert whenever someone with developmental disorders or frail senior goes missing.

MERRIMACK – A few years ago, Anne Conceison and Mary Stipe became worried about the safety of their mother, Teresa Canty Cahill, who was living in an in-law apartment at Conceison's home in Amherst.

Cahill, then 81, was afflicted with Alzheimer's disease that took away her sense of reality, plus severe osteoporosis that saddled her with constant pain and macular degeneration that was slowly robbing her of eyesight.

If Cahill somehow got out of their wooded home, she could become lost forever, they feared.

"We have to think about securing the exits," Anne's husband, Jim, told the two sisters one morning. As if on cue, Cahill appeared at the door.

"My mother was at the door in her pajamas," Anne Conceison said during an interview. "She had gone down the long driveway through the woods to get the mail and had this puzzled look on her face like: 'I think this is where I am supposed to come back in.'

"Thank God she didn't take a wrong turn in the woods."

Amazingly, Cahill never did get lost.

Cahill died in July of pneumonia and inability to breathe at age 84.

Her experiences led the sisters to think about families with frail and mentally impaired seniors who are living on their own or not under constant watch.

"We realized after mom was gone that we could really do something," Mary Stipe said. "It was too late to help her, but this could protect a lot of people that have loved ones who care deeply about them."

Police departments often are called upon to help locate lost elderly citizens. Last Oct. 18, Milford police managed to locate a 75-year-old local man with Alzheimer's disease after he had gotten into his car and gone missing for several hours. National estimates are that 60 percent of those with dementia will wander away at some time in their life.

"People who have lost their sense of reality and go missing, it's not even like a child that would have an instinct to take care of him or herself," Mary Stipe said. "They don't have the connections mentally to know they have left home. They can try to find their way back and just get stuck."

"These are the people that have taken care of all of us," Conceison said. "Don't we need to find some way to protect them at their time of most need?"

Stipe and Conceison thought of a Silver Alert, patterned after the successful Amber Alert used when children have gone missing. The Amber Alert triggers immediate lookout warnings on highway signs and hourly alerts on statewide radio, TV and newspaper Internet sites to blast word of the missing child – a Silver Alert could be as successful in getting public attention.

"If you see an older person walking around, you aren't necessarily going to approach them and say, 'Do you know where you are going?' You don't want to offend somebody," Stipe said.

Lobbying for their idea

Once the two had an idea for a Silver Alert, they knew enough that a state law would be required. Stipe, who lives in Merrimack, knew enough about local politics to turn to Republican state Rep. Peter Batula , a longtime representative and former chairman of the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee.

He also saw the need.

"As the population ages, we have more people who are 85 or 90 years old who are physically able to wander off but not mentally capable and get lost," Batula said.

He went to work and found that unbeknownst to Stipe and Conceison, this is a growing cause across the nation.

In the past year, the number of states with a Silver or Senior Alert Program has tripled to 12, including Texas, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, West Virginia and Missouri. Another dozen states are considering such legislation. Texas Democratic U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett has offered a federal bill for a nationwide system.

"We thought this was our very own idea and here there were people like us in states all over the country coming to grips with it," Mary Stipe said. "This is great because we can learn from all of their experiences and make New Hampshire's program the best in the country."

Batula went ahead and submitted a bill, officially know as HB 279 in the Legislature. The bill is expected to be heard before the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee today.

Batula went one step further than introducing a senior alert system, he increased the bill, adding something that no other state has done – an alert for missing people of any age who have developmental disabilities.

He chose a Colorado law to most parallel what his bill attempts to achieve for New Hampshire.

Since the alert would piggyback on the Amber Alert, Batula said the cost for this will not be great.

This is a pivotal issue as lawmakers are discouraged from seeking new money as the state faces a $95 million budget deficit, which could quadruple in the next two years.

"This isn't one of those bills where people will be calling and getting an alert out for someone missing for an hour," Batula explained.

"The local police have to become convinced this missing person is a senior or someone vulnerable with developmental disabilities and then they have to make the case to the State Police before a statewide alert is issued."

The legislation has already attracted the names of three committee chairmen including Rep. Cindy Rosenwald, D-Nashua, and Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, D-Manchester.

"People should embrace the fact this is their government, if they want to change something or bring a new program to reality, they need to get active and try to make it happen," Conceison added.

Kevin Landrigan can be reached at 321-7040 or klandrigan@nashua telegraph.com.

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http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=9757025&nav=menu102_2

Lawmakers Planning "Silver Alert" Bill

http://klas.images.worldnow.com/images/9757025_BG1.jpg
Opal Parsons vanished in August of 2007 and no one knows why.

Updated: Jan 29, 2009 09:12 PM EST

81-year-old Opal Parsons vanished from her Las Vegas neighborhood nearly a year and a half ago. Her family was devastated. Now state lawmakers hope to stop this kind of tragedy from happening again.

If you knew who she was, and Carol Holt will certainly tell you that chasing the ghosts and the memories of her missing mother has not been easy, or easy to talk about.

Parsons vanished in August of 2007 and no one knows why. Frantic searches followed and so did public pleas for help. Clues found in the wetlands didn't help. They couldn't help this cancer survivor. Something wasn't right.

"I knew in my heart, because of the fact she missed lunch with her friends and didn't call any of them, that something was horribly wrong," said Holt.

At first, Carol turned to Metro, but no luck -- too many missing person's cases they said, "The police really didn't take me seriously."

So Carol strongly supports AB4, a new bill to turn Amber Alerts a different shade -- a Silver Alert for people 60 and older who have gone missing, "If there was something in place, if you're over a certain age, there's going to be an alert."

It could help those who wander off, or others, like Opal, who simply vanish. For families this helps prevent this from happening again, "I'm still looking for her. There won't be closure until I know what happened."

AB4 is expected to be among the first bills discussed in Carson City in the session. It shouldn't be expensive. Law enforcement could use the system already in place for Amber Alerts.

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http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090130/NEWSBLOG/301309895/-1/XML15

Sisters' plea for Silver Alert reaches Concord

Published: Friday, January 30, 2009

By KEVIN LANDRIGAN Staff Writer

CONCORD – The two Nashua area sisters who are seeking a statewide Silver Alert to help find mentally impaired seniors who go missing got a quick tutorial at the legislative sausage factory Thursday.

Mary Stipe, of Merrimack, and Anne Conceison, of Amherst, were relieved that no one testified against their proposal (HB 279) that Merrimack Republican Rep. Peter Batula has sponsored for them.

The sisters are championing this change in state law in loving memory of their mother, Teresa Canty Cahill, a victim of Alzheimer's disease who died last July.

During the bill's maiden voyage before the public, several advocates who said they were supporters still picked apart details.

They offered concerns it could create too much paperwork that would delay a search and was too restrictive in who could be helped, even though it would cover seniors with mental impairment and anyone with developmental disabilities who goes missing.

Batula said he tried to strike the right balance between a program that will mobilize a statewide search for someone quickly, with enough requirements that ensure the person is really missing and unable to find their own way home.

"We know the first few hours of a missing person are critical in finding the senior with impairments or someone with developmental disabilities who have left their sphere of safety,'' Batula told the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.

During these tough financial times, Batula said he seeks to avoid creating an expensive cost for a new program. To buffer that burden, this new alert would piggyback upon the nationwide Amber Alert issued to find children suspected of having been kidnapped.

"We don't want a Silver Alert being issued for some person who has wandered away and is next door playing cards and the family member doesn't know that he's safe and sound,'' Batula said.

Rep. Gene Charron, R-Chester, said there might be too much regulation presently in the bill.

"I just kept envisioning so much paperwork,'' said Charron, a retired county jail superintendent. "If someone is missing, I would want it to be immediate because we're talking about dementia.''

Studies done for the National Alzheimer's Association conclude that half of those with the condition who go missing for 24 hours suffer severe injury or death.

Batula related the story of an 83-year-old man with severe dementia who last month got into his truck in Lyndeborough and later died in a motor vehicle crash in New York.

Ken Nielsen, a lawyer with the Department of Health and Human Services, said this special alert is needed because state law now only requires information about missing individuals be submitted to authorities within 72 hours.

There are 12 states that have adopted Amber Alert laws and New Hampshire is one of five other states scheduled to take the issue up this year. Texas Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett has offered a federal bill (H.R. 632) to create it nationwide.

"This is a national trend that New Hampshire should be wise to get involved in if we can resolve these issues,'' Nielsen said.

Donna Woodfin, with the State Committee on Aging, said the bill should not be limited to only mentally impaired seniors who are over 65. She also asked to strike references to "senile'' from the bill as the term is no longer used.

Woodfin's mother lived with her in Concord and had an undiagnosed condition that brought about mental confusion and at times aimless wandering.

"One night she came downstairs; she was in her nightgown,'' Woodfin recalled. "I am a light sleeper, thank God, because she was going out.''

Laurie Mantz is director of marketing for The Arbors of Bedford, an assisted living complex that specializes in residents with Alzheimer's or dementia.

Many who could easily get lost are much younger than 65 and this alert should cover them, she continued.

"We have to amend the bill so it is inclusive and not exclusive,'' Mantz said.

Anne Conceison agreed anyone's search should not be slowed down by bureaucratic red tape.

"If my mother had ever made it past the driveway, I don't want to have to go looking for paperwork before I call the police,'' Conceison said.

Mary Stipe said illness prevented three of her four boys from joining them at Thursday's hearing.

She told lawmakers several states that adopted these alerts have had success in rescuing missing seniors.

"I hope you will find the issue compelling, the bill necessary and the need real,'' Stipe concluded.

After the hearing, Concord Democratic Rep. Steve Shurtleff, the committee chairman, said he will soon create a working group to perfect the bill.

"This is a good bill but it needs a bit of work,'' Shurtleff added.

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http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/184/story/388126.html

Alzheimer's group pushes for Silver Alerts in New Jersey

Published: Friday, January 30, 2009

TRENTON - Wealthy and exclusive Longport is miles away from the lights of Atlantic City.
But despite being at opposite ends of the same barrier island, Longport police Chief Scott Porter said, his officers have encountered people who left casinos disoriented and kept walking 5 to 8 miles until they reach the end of Absecon Island.

When that happens, Porter said, "We try to find out who they are and contact their families. Our officers get them some food and make them as comfortable as possible" as they try to reunite the people with their families.

Similarly, Ventnor police Capt. Mike Miller said officers often know where to look for missing senior citizens, especially those who have wandered off before.

But - speaking on a day that started with snow and turned to rain in New Jersey - Miller added that these cases often have an urgency to them because of the missing person's health.

New Jersey may soon join a growing number of states that issue alerts when a person with Alzheimer's disease, dementia or similar age-related cognitive impairments goes missing.
Lawmakers are considering a bill that would create "Silver Alerts," community alerts similar to the widespread Amber Alert program that is used to locate and recover missing children.

If adopted, the state Attorney General's office would issue alerts if a person with some cognitive impairment is missing, after reports are filed with local police, if it is believed the person would be in danger and there is enough information to issue one.

In addition to working with the media, State Police would coordinate with the Department of Transportation to announce the alerts on overhead highway signs.

Several states, including Florida, Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia, have similar Silver Alert systems, according to the National Association of State Units on Aging.

In Cumberland County, the Sheriff's Department relies on the radio-based Project Lifesaver technology to locate people who wander away from home or otherwise get lost.

Those who participate in the program, for a one-time fee of $350, wear a personalized bracelet that emits a tracking signal.

Cumberland County Sheriff David Austino said Wednesday that the program is used not only by caregivers for the elderly, but also by parents of children with autism or other conditions.

State Police, Austino added, are now also on board with the technology, and have outfitted patrol cars and helicopters with the Project Lifesaver tracking device.

Austino said it is not uncommon for law-enforcement agencies to get calls about elderly residents who have gone missing.

"From my years with the Vineland Police Department, there were times we'd get a senior citizen that would go missing," Austino said. "They can get in a car and drive and never know where they are."

About 5.2 million Americans have Alzheimer's, including 200,000 who are not old enough to be considered senior citizens, according to the national Alzheimer's Association.

At a hearing before the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee this week, advocate Mary Kubiak, of Egg Harbor Township, testified that figure is expected to climb to as many as 16 million people by 2020.

About 60 percent of people with Alzheimer's are expected to wander away from care at some point, said Kubiak, who works with the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.

Time is of the essence, said Leena Shah, the association's public policy and advocacy coordinator. When patients wander away, she said, about half die if not found within 24 hours.

The alerts are needed because as Alzheimer's progresses, people who suffer from it slowly stop being able to function. They lose the ability to know when they need to eat or drink, she said, or how to dress for the weather.

"I have heard of people who would wander in the middle of winter with just a housecoat on," said Kubiak, a Milwaukee native who lost her father to the disease. "They have no concept of having to put a sweater on or a coat to handle the cold."

She estimated that within her chapter, which includes Delaware, southern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania, about 500,000 people have the condition.

And, as lawmakers amended the bill to remove provisions that would only activate the alerts when someone older than 65 goes missing, Kubiak noted that thousands of people who are not senior citizens have the disease.

"This is a time when we have the tools and technology to help people who suffer from Alzheimer's," said bill sponsor Sen. Bill Baroni, R-Mercer, Middlesex. "This is something that we can actually do to make New Jersey safer."

The bill, co-sponsored locally by Sen. Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, now heads to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee for consideration. A companion bill cleared the Assembly's Law and Public Safety Committee in September and now awaits a vote by the full Assembly.

[annalyzer]

http://www.dailyitem.com/0110_editorials/local_story_031232106.html

Published January 31, 2009 11:21 pm - Because of the severity of frigid temperatures, Northumberland County Coroner James Kelley suggests Ruth Furman may have frozen to death before she was reported missing.

Look for a lesson in a sad case


Because of the severity of frigid temperatures, Northumberland County Coroner James Kelley suggests Ruth Furman may have frozen to death before she was reported missing. The coroner was unable to pinpoint a time of death, but he estimates Mrs. Furman perished the morning her husband alerted police that she was gone from her rural Sunbury home.


Reports of people disappearing from their homes in the middle of the night are uncommon. Frigid cold and reports that Mrs. Furman had been struggling with mental illness should have added urgency to her case.

Yet, police waited a day before launching an aerial search and going door-to-door to interview neighbors. State police never organized a ground search in the woods near her home -- where a neighbor found Mrs. Furman's body six days later.

It is not entirely certain that law enforcement or rescue volunteers could have saved Mrs. Furman's life. The pace of the response gave Mrs. Furman almost no chance.

The state police say they followed their procedures. If those procedures did not work in this case, why would they function better the next time a person is reported missing?

Mrs. Furman walked out of her home dressed in a sweatsuit, sneakers and coat in the middle of a January night when temperatures dipped toward 10 degrees. No one knows where Mrs. Furman was going, but as she walked along, she somehow slipped and tumbled into a ravine. Injured, she was unable to rescue herself.

There, all alone, she froze to death.

In hindsight, a number of red flags popped up in Mrs. Furman's case that might have heightened the urgency and breadth of the response. There was her age, her state of mind and the severity of the weather. Maybe proximity to a rural landscape is also a factor.

Given the rarity in which authorities are alerted to missing adults, it might be useful to conduct a post-incident study that examines and updates protocols, identifies resources and provides some parameters for calculating response to these situations using variables like age, well being and exposure to the elements.

For those who think the very question assigns blame, it does not. Efforts to save a life simply failed. Reflection in the face of failure is an exercise in responsible learning. If the effort had been different, would the chances of success have improved? And can that be included in Ruth Furman's legacy to her community?

We would hope so.

[annalyzer]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-in-xgr-silveralert,0,485384.story

Bill on alert system for missing seniors advances

Associated Press
12:50 PM CST, February 2, 2009

INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana would join several states that have public warning systems to help find endangered, missing adults under a bill passed unanimously by the state Senate.

The bill would establish so-called silver alerts. They would be similar to Amber Alerts, which are issued by police and broadcast by media outlets and put on Web sites when a child is believed to have been abducted and is in danger.

Republican Sen. Patricia Miller of Indianapolis says silver alerts could help protect more than 100,000 Indiana residents with Alzheimer's disease and other endangered adults.

At least 10 states have implemented their own missing person notification system for people with some form of mental impairments. The bill approved Monday now moves to the Indiana House for consideration.

[annalyzer]

http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=9775516&nav=menu54_3

IN Silver Alert passes Senate

Posted: Feb 2, 2009 07:47 PM EST

Updated: Feb 2, 2009 09:46 PM EST

INDIANA (NBC) - A 14 News update on a bill that would establish a new alert system in Indiana for missing adults.

The Silver Alert bill passed the state Senate unanimously Monday.

The alerts would be similar to Amber Alerts, which are issued by police and broadcast by media outlets and put on web sites.

At least 10 states have implemented their own missing person notification system, including Kentucky.

The bill now moves to the Indiana House for consideration.

[annalyzer]

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-02-07/story/silver_alerts_help_bring_seniors_back_home

Silver Alerts help bring seniors back home

Woman says 'a couple hundred pairs of eyes' looked for her husband. spreading the word.

Saturday, Feb. 7, 2009
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http://www.jacksonville.com/files/imagecache/story_slideshow_thumb/editorial/images/additional/104/silver+alert.jpg

What is a Silver Alert?

In Florida: The state's Silver Alert program began in October. The system is activated when a person 60 years old or older, suffering from an irreversible deterioration of intellectual faculties (such as dementia), goes missing and law enforcement officers conclude that the disappearance is a threat to the person's safety and welfare.

Certain exceptions may be made for adults younger than 60 years old.

For more information, visit www.fdle.state.fl.us and click on "Silver Alerts" on the left-hand bar.
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By now, most everyone knows about Amber Alerts, used to notify the public about abducted children.

But a new, similar program has been getting a lot of attention of its own lately: Silver Alerts, used to help find endangered seniors who have gone missing. The program is only for people 60 years and older who have a cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer's Disease, although special exceptions are allowed for younger people who have mental impairments.

Gov. Charlie Crist signed the order establishing Florida's Silver Alert program in October. Georgia has had a similar system since 2006, Mattie's Call, and there are efforts to make Silver Alerts nationwide.

There have been three such alerts in Northeast Florida over the last two weeks. All were older men with dementia or Alzheimer's who drove away from home and got lost.

When the alerts went out, bulletins were quickly posted in the local media and on electronic interstate road signs with information about the missing men and cars they were driving. Similar bulletins have helped passers-by spot about one in six of the missing seniors since the program began.

The alert was reassuring on an otherwise panic-filled day for Betty Eivich of Flagler County. Her husband, William, who suffers from dementia, was reported missing on Feb. 2. He had last been seen driving in the Palatka area in the late morning. She later found out he had gone all the way to Jacksonville on U.S. 17 before finding his way back to their home in Plantation Oaks.

Although he returned on his own, she said she was grateful to learn about the Silver Alert program from the deputy who took the missing person report.

"It helped greatly," she said in an interview Wednesday. "I was helpless. You knew there must have been a couple hundred pairs of eyes looking for him."

The other two men, also of Flagler County, also were unharmed: Henry P. Fields, 70, was found after getting in a traffic accident in Polk County; and Conroy Michaels, 69, returned home by himself, said Flagler County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Debra Johnson.

Not every story has a safe ending. In November, a Silver Alert issued for a missing Gainesville man ended in tragedy at the Jacksonville International Airport. Detectives from Alachua County had tracked 66-year-old David Reiser to the airport's parking lot, but minutes after they and Jacksonville officers found him in his van, he shot himself, according to a police report of the incident.

The outcome of most Silver Alert cases is positive. Of the 43 that have been issued since Florida's program began less than six months ago, all but five returned or were found alive, said Kristen Perezluha, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Seven of the 43 people who went missing were found as a direct result of a citizen seeing the alert and contacting law enforcement, she said.

In Betty Eivich's mind, her husband could have been one of them as road signs flashed his car's make and model throughout the region as he tried to find his way back.

"I'm 100 percent for it," she said.

[annalyzer]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/saturdayspin/400932_washcall21.html

February 20, 2009

Hoffman: Silver Alerts may sound the alarm for missing seniors

WASHINGTON -- Though it drew little notice, the House voted Feb. 11 to create a national "Silver Alert" communications network, patterned after the Amber Alert system that spreads the word fast when a child goes missing. Silver Alerts would be issued when any elderly person with Alzheimer's or a similar condition wanders off. Such a system in Florida is credited with locating 37 missing seniors since October. The House authorized $5 million for state Silver Alert programs. The measure now goes to the Senate.

[annalyzer]

http://www.tampabay.com/news/aging/lifetimes/article978391.ece

By Mimi Andelman, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Florida's Silver Alert spurs a national plan

http://www.tampabay.com/multimedia/archive/00057/life_maryzelter02240_57683d.jpg
Florida’s Silver Alert began in response to the death of Mary Zelter of Largo.

One year after the death of the 86-year-old Pinellas County woman who inspired the creation of Florida's Silver Alert, the notification system for missing seniors, a national Silver Alert bill awaits approval in the U.S. Senate.

Sponsored by U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Tarpon Springs, the federal legislation is designed to set up a grant program to help states develop their own notification system for missing seniors. (It works like the Amber Alert does for missing children.) The bill passed in the House late last year but failed to make it through the Senate because of the break. Recently reintroduced, the bill passed unanimously in the House on Feb. 10.

But Florida had no Silver Alert program when, you may recall, Mary Zelter, 86, of Largo drove away on Feb. 26, 2008, from her assisted living facility in her white Chrysler Sebring convertible and never returned.

Her body was found a week later 10 miles away in the Intracoastal Waterway near a Clearwater boat ramp. Her submerged car was nearby.

The Silver Alert has grass roots grown locally. Within about two months after Zelter's death, folks couldn't forget her. Bilirakis, for one. And folks who came together to build what they hoped would be a pilot program based in Pinellas County. Among the committee members was Largo police Chief Lester Aradi, the chairman; Sallie Parks of the Area Agency on Aging; Pinellas Sheriff Jim Coats; and Zelter's daughter, Mary Lallucci. There was input from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, as well as others.

Program details were hammered over the summer and presented to the FDLE. Before too long, it drew the attention of Gov. Crist's office. Instead of a being a pilot program in Pinellas County it would become statewide. Florida's Silver Alert became law, signed by executive order in October.

Lallucci, Zelter's daughter, recalled the effort and the spotlight on her late mother. "Our family would never have imagined that her death would be instrumental in how the Silver Alert came to the state," she said, and perhaps eventually to the nation.

"It moved people to action," Lallucci said. "People really related to her, and our family: 'Gosh it could be anybody.' "

Bilirakis' office now counts 13 states that have a Silver Alert or similar program, and 13 more considering it.

Since the program began in October, there have been 48 Silver Alerts issued in Florida, including three in February. Forty-three of the alerts ended happily for families, including the most recent three; the remaining five, however, were found deceased, the FDLE reported.

One year later, Lallucci can only speculate as to what went wrong. But she has a theory. Her parents once lived in a waterfront condo, where they loved the view of the gulf. And a few days before her mother disappeared, a group from her living facility made a bus trip along the coast. It might have been that pull, and a sense of adventure, that took her mother away.

"Her tragedy has become such a catalyst for good things," Lallucci said, "and that has helped us a lot in terms of coming to terms with such a tragic ending with such an important person in your life.

"Every time a Silver Alert comes out, I'm so grateful those families didn't have the tragedy we have. It's a real blessing.''

[annalyzer]

http://www.dailymail.com/News/statenews/200902230654

Tuesday February 24, 2009

Legislation would create means to track missing Alzheimer's sufferers

Effort would use media announcements to locate mentally impaired adults

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- House Majority Leader Brent Boggs once had an elderly friend who started up his pickup truck at his Webster County home and ended up in Charleston.

Then, at the Montrose exit in South Charleston, he entered Interstate 64 the wrong way and crashed head-on with oncoming vehicles.

The man, suffering from Alzheimer's disease, was killed.

It's that kind of tragedy the Silver Alert system aims to prevent.

The House of Delegates is expected to pass a bill this week that would establish the Silver Alert system in West Virginia. The system would be used to track adults with Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive impairments if they wander off and wind up missing.

"It works like the Amber Alert system," said Boggs, D-Braxton, one of the bill's cosponsors.

"It will expedite the search-and-rescue process and avoid any tragic incidents that happen too frequently. It doesn't deal just with the elderly. It covers any age, as long as they have a disability or impairment that keeps them from exercising good judgment."

A Silver Alert would be activated after a missing-person report was filed with the State Police. The person must suffer from "dementia or other cognitive impairment," according to the bill.

Upon notice from the State Police, media outlets then would transmit emergency alerts to inform the public of the missing person within their broadcast service region.

The alerts would be read after a distinctive sound tone and include a description of the missing person and other details.

State Police also would work with the state Department of Transportation so that various message signs along the highways could display the alerts.

Amber Alerts about missing children currently are distributed via radio and television stations. Those alerts also are available through e-mail, electronic highway signs, LED billboards and text messages.

As with the Amber Alerts, the Silver Alerts would be broadcast voluntarily by media outlets.

"It wouldn't preclude local TV stations in the area from running alerts on the bottom of the screen," Boggs said. "But it would allow them the opportunity to participate as a community service."

There is no fiscal note attached to the legislation, meaning the implementation of the bill would cost taxpayers little or nothing.

"There's no fiscal note because we're just piggybacking on a system that's already in place," Boggs said.
The secretary of Military Affairs and Public Safety would be charged with developing the plan of action for the State Police.

Only a few states have the Silver Alert system in place, though Congress has considered a federal initiative. Those states include Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia.

(more at link)

[annalyzer]

http://www.panhandleparade.com/index.php/mbb/article/silver_alert_system_designed_to_locate_missing_per sons/mbb7715009/

"Silver Alert” System Designed to Locate Missing Persons

Sens. Martinez and Kohl seek nationwide network to locate missing adults and seniors

03/10/09

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Mel Martinez (R-FL) and Herb Kohl (D-WI) today introduced an effort to create a nationwide network for locating missing adults and senior citizens. The Silver Alert Act, originally introduced in the 110th Congress, would create a national alert system modeled after the Amber Alert providing federal coordination and assistance across state lines.

“With the growing number of aging Americans, especially those with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, thousands of adults go missing every year,” said Senator Martinez, the top Republican on the Senate’s Special Committee on Aging. “Providing families and law enforcement agencies with the combined resources they need to locate loved ones is essential. This type of proven nationwide network will assist states and territories with developing their own location system and integrate local Silver Alert plans currently in place with the national network.”

“Setting up a Silver Alert system for seniors who go missing due to Alzheimer’s disease or dementia will promote the safety of our nation’s seniors, while bringing peace of mind to many concerned families,” said Senator Kohl, Chairman of the Senate’s Special Committee on Aging. “With half a million new cases of Alzheimer’s every year, the need for a system of this kind will only grow.”

The bill encourages states to develop Silver Alert plans and provides funding to enhance and integrate Silver Alert plans that are currently in place in various states. In 2008, the state of Florida implemented its version of the Silver Alert program allowing local law enforcement agencies within the state to work together while utilizing road signs and coordinating with the local media to locate the missing adults. This legislation directs the Department of Justice to establish a national communications network to assist efforts to locate missing senior citizens. It also reauthorizes Kristen’s Act, which helps to maintain a national, interconnected resource center and clearinghouse for missing adults.

[texanne]

I am glad to see a plan in place. I know of several instances where people suffering with Alzheimer or dementia have wondered off with horrible consequences. We all need to be alert to the fact that the senior citizen you see acting "lost" may very well be needing intervention. It could well be one of us one day.

[annalyzer]

04/13/09

National needs silver alert system

Editor:

Florida has more than 520,000 persons with Alzheimer's disease. As the threat of Alzheimer's disease continues to touch more people's lives, the safety and security of those with dementia will continue to be a concern to us all.

Last year, the governor created a statewide Silver Alert Act to locate lost or missing persons with Alzheimer's or other memory impairments. Six out of 10 people with Alzheimer's will wander from their homes or facilities. If not found within a 24-hour period, up to half will suffer serious injury or death.

Congress may be following Florida's lead to create a nationwide network.

The Alzheimer's Association remains committed to working with state and national lawmakers in developing a comprehensive approach to the creation of a Silver Alert system: authorizing grants for law enforcement dementia training and working with existing identification, support and enrollment programs.

For more information about the Alzheimer's Association contact the Florida Gulf Coast Chapter at 727-578-2558 or go online at www.alz.org/FlGulfCoast.

Gloria Smith
Alzheimer's Association

http://www.sunnewspapers.net/articles/edStory.aspx?articleID=435401

[annalyzer]

04/22/2009

Silver Alert Bill Signed Into Law

Staff
State Capitol

Governor Joe Manchin signed a bill into law Wednesday aimed at locating seniors with cognitive disabilities and those suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's Association of West Virginia Executive Director Jane Marks says the Silver Alert Plan will make a difference in finding those who can't find their way home. "They can get lost going around the block. They can get lost going to church on Sunday mornings even though they've gone there for the past 40-years,” Marks said.

Several years ago the state waived the 24-hour waiting period to declare someone missing when it involved those with Alzheimer's and cognitive disorders. Sparks says the Silver Alert Plan goes one step future, making it very much like an Amber Alert. "The police or law enforcement agency will have a procedure by which they will notify all the other law enforcement agencies. The next step is to go to the media," she said at Wednesday’s bill signing.

Statistics show that if an Alzheimer's patient or senior citizen with a cognitive disability wanders off in a rural area and isn't found within 24-hours chances are there won't be a good outcome.

Marks says that's why it's so important to get the information out to the public. "The more eyes and ears you have out there trying to find this person the better,” she said.

A committee will establish the exact procedures that will be followed when a Silver Alert is issued.

http://www.wvmetronews.com/index.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=30108

[annalyzer]

Silver Alert bills goes to Gov. Daniels for signing

By Bruce C. Smith
Posted: May 2, 2009

In a session of the General Assembly that failed to pass a state budget by Wednesday's deadline, at least one key bill with Hendricks County roots is headed to the governor for signature.

Dubbed Silver Alert, the plan would notify the public and police when an endangered adult is missing or may have wandered away from caregivers. Notifications would be through news media in the state and other means.

Based on the person's physical description and perhaps a car or license plate number, the public is asked to watch for the missing person and report any sightings to police.

It is copied from the nationwide Amber Alert, which has proven effective in finding missing or abducted children.

State Sen. Connie Lawson, R-Danville, introduced the proposal. Sen. Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, sought a related proposal. They were joined in a final version that passed the House and Senate unanimously.

If signed by Gov. Mitch Daniels, Silver Alert would go into effect July 1.

"This is a step toward protecting our seniors and making sure none of them (becomes) lost," Lawson said Wednesday.

Publicity and debate about Silver Alert may have helped recover a missing Brownsburg woman, who was found in Muncie this week, she added.

Lawson's bill was prompted by the death of a 91-year-old Clifford "Jack" Obenchain of Pittsboro, who suffered a series of mini-strokes while driving in Indianapolis in December 2007.

A delivery driver for an Avon business, Obenchain became lost and wandered highways in Indiana and Ohio for days.

At one point, he was stopped and given driving directions by an Ohio policeman unaware of Obenchain's memory loss or the ongoing search for him.

Obenchain was found dead near his van in a creek near Muncie.

Supporters of the Silver Alert proposal testified in Senate hearings that more than 100,000 Hoosiers have been diagnosed with memory-robbing disorders, and the number is likely to grow as the baby boom generation ages.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20090502/LOCAL05/905020326/1020/LOCAL05

[annalyzer]

States consider `Silver Alerts' for missing adults

By Stephanie Reitz Associated Press
Posted: 05/13/2009 08:17:08 PM PDT

Thomas Drew was 91, frail and suffering from dementia when, clad in a maroon sweat shirt and jeans, he disappeared from his home in rural northwest Connecticut.

Drew hasn't been seen since that warm Saturday afternoon in July 2007, an example of the perils facing millions of Americans living with dementia, Alzheimer's disease and other mental impairments.

Now, several states and Congress are considering alert systems to notify the public when a cognitively impaired adult like Drew goes missing or wanders away.

Called "Silver Alerts," they are modeled on the Amber Alerts issued to prompt widespread publicity about missing children.

As baby boomers age and dementia diagnoses are skyrocketing, 15 states have adopted Silver Alert systems.

Lawmakers in several others - including New Hampshire, Tennessee and Wisconsin - are considering them.

Connecticut's state Senate approved a bill Thursday to set up such a system, sending it to the state House for a vote.

On the same day, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed his state's Silver Alert program into law.

A measure to set up a national Silver Alert system also has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and awaits Senate action.

Supporters say the goal is simple: spreading the word as quickly and widely as possible when an impaired adult wanders away so they can be returned to safety.

In many states, it involves flashing the person's face on electronic billboards; working with broadcasters to spread the person's description; and posting messages on highway traffic-incident signs and state lottery ticket terminals.

The Chicago-based Alzheimer's Association says 5.3 million people in the U.S. have Alzheimer's disease, including 5.1 million of them ages 65 and older.

And with baby boomers aging, they say, there's a new case about every 70 seconds.

About six of every 10 Alzheimer's and dementia patients will wander away from their caregivers at least once, with only limited mental ability to explain their predicament to strangers or find their way home.

"The biggest thing is that to find somebody, it takes bodies, people - and there's not always enough law enforcement to do that.

This recruits so many extra sets of eyes," said Herbert Hicks, of Montville, Conn., who testified before state lawmakers this year for the proposal.

For Hicks and millions of other caretakers nationwide, the issue goes beyond statistics.

Frontal lobe dementia transformed his wife, Betty, in less than three years from a savvy bank executive to a restless woman who talked plaintively of wanting to "go home," though she was sitting at her own kitchen table.

Her attempts to wander away prompted Hicks to retire early from his firefighting career, hire caretakers and install special locks on doors to keep her inside. She died in April at age 68.

Though they had what Hicks calls "a few interesting experiences in the yard" as she was caught and diverted inside, others haven't been so lucky.

Drew, missing since 2007, was popular in his small town of Salisbury, where "missing/endangered person" signs featuring his face and description still hang in some stores and the library.

Searchers returned to the region as recently as April 25, finding no sign of the retired fashion designer.

Police and his family often wonder whether Drew, who was so frail he could barely walk in church without gripping each pew, may have been picked up by a stranger in a vehicle - a stranger who, if a Silver Alert had been in effect, might have known that his passenger was the subject of a frantic search.

A short distance away, Litchfield still mourns the 1999 disappearance of James Garris, an 80-year-old Alzheimer's patient who wandered away from a convalescent home on one of the year's hottest days.

Like Drew, his body has never been found.

"I don't know what happened to my father or how he came to be missing, but basically all we know for sure is that he's not there," said Allison Drew, one of Drew's daughters and a professor who lives in the United Kingdom community of York and frequently returns to Connecticut.

"Any system that would provide information would be a great idea to help if someone who's a vulnerable person is missing," she said. "Who's to know if it would have helped in my father's case, but I think it definitely would be helpful in general."

http://www.sgvtribune.com/living/ci_12364823