 |
Photo courtesy of Texas Department of Transportation
|
(Updated
9:30 a.m EST, May 8, 2008)
When 83-year-old Helen Long left her North Carolina home without notice last January, her daughter called state police.
The police alerted the community using automated road signs and radio and television ads that aired descriptions of Long and her truck and explained that she had dementia. Within six hours, a UPS driver spotted her vehicle, called for help, and Long was returned home unharmed.
But not all elders with dementia who go missing are rescued with such efficiency — or at all.
North Carolina is one of only eight states with a new type of missing persons program called Silver Alert that experts say is urgently needed to address a growing problem.
Every year, hundreds of seniors and others with dementia wander away, on foot or driving, and if not found within 24 hours, at least half suffer serious injury or death, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. As baby boomers age, the toll is expected to multiply. So far, Silver Alert — patterned after a national program for missing children known as Amber Alert — has resulted in the safe return of a majority of those reported. “The beauty of Silver Alert is that it’s something people can remember. If you just say ‘Silver Alert,’ people know there’s a confused elderly person out there who needs help,” Carlos Higgins of a senior advocacy group, the
National Silver-Haired Congress, told
Stateline.org.
Colorado
was the first state to enact a Silver Alert program in 2006, followed in 2007 by Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas. Virginia adopted a similar program called Senior Alert in 2007 and Kentucky this year adopted a program called Golden Alert.
Legislators in Florida, Louisiana and New York are discussing proposals for next year.
At least 5.2 million Americans suffer from dementia, and research shows that six out of 10 of those will wander. Only 4 percent of those who leave home alone are able to find their way back without help, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Like the successful Amber Alert program established in the mid-1990s to locate missing children, the state-run Silver Alert accelerates the usual missing persons search by using public broadcast systems, state transportation department automated road signs and a 511 emergency call-line to involve the community in rescuing vulnerable seniors.
State programs — which administrators say are inexpensive to operate because they piggyback on existing Amber Alert communication systems — vary from state to state. All states use similar public announcements but differ on who is covered and what is required to file an alert.
In Texas, for example, a caregiver reporting a missing senior must do so within 72 hours of the person’s disappearance and provide medical documentation verifying a diagnosis of mental impairment. Only those 65 years old and older who are Texas residents may be reported.
In North Carolina, no medical diagnosis or state residency is required, and the program covers anyone with cognitive impairment, not just senior citizens.
In both states, law enforcers say the use of Silver Alert is growing rapidly as more people learn about the program.
Texas police have received 31 Silver Alert reports since the program began in September 2007. Of those, 27 were found alive, three were found dead and one is still missing. North Carolina has received 20 requests to post missing seniors since the program began in December 2007; three are still missing but the others were found unharmed.
Inspired by the initial success of Silver Alert, members of Congress want to speed nationwide development of the program.
Last month, the death of an 86-year-old Florida woman who disappeared from an assisted-living facility prompted U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) to propose a $5.6 million federal grant program that would offer at least $100,000 per state to seed development of the program.
"This tragedy unfortunately highlights the very real problem of older residents, many of whom suffer from diseases which leave them easily confused and disoriented, wandering away from their homes or care-giving facilities and meeting harm because family, friends and authorities could not find them in time," Bilirakis said.
In addition, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) plans to introduce a bill this month that would make Silver Alert a federally coordinated program in all 50 states.
“A nationally coordinated program could take good ideas from states and spread them to others and before long we’ll have a national program with the media cooperating with law enforcement just like they do for Amber Alert,” Higgins of the National Silver-Haired Congress said.
In states with Silver Alert programs, Alzheimer’s Association volunteers are helping train law enforcers on how to find and approach those with dementia. The group also is informing the public about Silver Alert and educating caregivers on methods of preventing those with dementia from wandering.
Silver Alert has few opponents, although proposals in some states have been rejected because of budget concerns and worries that law enforcers already are overburdened. Some state policymakers also have cautioned that too many alerts could make the public less likely to respond.
In North Carolina, the Silver Alert program is operating with no new money, and the Texas Legislature appropriated a small increase in public safety funding to cover administrative costs.
Amber Alert also began as a state-run program. In 1996, Dallas-FortWorth broadcasters teamed with law enforcers to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children. The program was created as a legacy to a 9-year-old Texas girl named Amber Hagerman who was kidnapped and murdered.
Other states followed Texas’ lead and in 2002, President George W. Bush directed the U.S. Department of Justice to help every state set up an Amber Alert plan. To date, the Department of Justice has spent nearly $20 million for state training and technical assistance.
Contact Christine Vestal at cvestal@stateline.org.
See related stories:
Missing children leave safer legacy
Editor's Note: A previous version of this story did not include Virginia and Kentucky in the list of states with Silver Alert programs.
Powered by
By Tim Holmgren on Apr 23, 2009 1:09:28 PM
Thank you for the great article. I'm always amazed at the critism Silver Alert generates. First, it doesn't take away from Amber Alert. Second, the longer someone is out their on their own, the less chance they have of getting help.
For those of your that are in government or law enforcement, I'd like to make an announcement that we are posting all Silver Alert on our national system. The service is free. If you have an alert and would like to post on our system, please feel free to contact me and I'll create an account for your department. The system is available only to police but families are able to proactively register loved ones.
All authorized police are able to search our database in the event of an emergency.
The system is located at:
http://www.MissingPatient.com
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Regards,
Tim Holmgren
MissingPatient.com
info@missingpatient.com
Report as Offensive
Silver Alert
By Nancy Lewis on Aug 25, 2008 12:49:45 PM
Maybe it shouldn't be called "Silver Alert", instead, perhaps "Missing Alert", so people don't get all heated up by the implications of the title of the alert. We need to do all we can to find anyone who is missing, and the more people who know about it the wider our circle of protection becomes.
Report as Offensive
silver alert--511
By maria koesterer on Jun 11, 2008 1:13:03 AM
As an advocate of seniors and those who are caregivers of Alzheimers' patients --it is an insult to think "all of us" are out to harm people in need, especially the elderly. I have seen first hand what ALzheimers' robs of not only the person diagnosed with the disease but those who are BRAVE enough to be a caregiver. As a support group coordinator for the past eight years I can tell you, I have not been introduced to many malicious people --just those looking to seek answers and education. The silver alert is and has been needed. Children are precious but far too many times we brush the elderly aside as if they have nothing more to offer--it would have been a terrible thing to have said to me or any of my family members as we saw my dad (a World War II veteran)struggle until he could fight no more and became almost skeleton like-similar to the concetration camp victims he had once helped free. The silver alert means simply that someone cares---someone's loved one is missing and we as a community need to care and look for someone in need. I find it hard to believe that any one who has lost an elderly loved to sundowner's & truly had a negative outcome leading to death that they would want this great idea to be squashed.
Report as Offensive
Nursing Home Fraud against Elderly
By Jeffrey Golin on Jun 4, 2008 6:49:46 PM
Just to amplify that last point, the article says that Mrs. Long the featured character in the article, was suffering from dementia, according to her daughter. Well, maybe yes and maybe no. Just because someone who is 80 years old has been declared suffering from dementia doesn't make it so. It happens all the time. Behavior that would be considered normal forgetfulness is viewed as senility when someone reaches their senior years. There is a lot of agism.
If there is money involved, getting a diagnosis from a prostitute psychologist in order to steal granny's house, property, savings and retirement trust fund is easier than you think. What was she doing driving if she was supposedly so demented? Maybe the daughter was responsible for getting her conserved, as happens in so many cases, and her mom was forced to leave her house by a move out order, to an understaffed nursing home where she was forced to take psychiatric drugs, as happens so often. Here is one of many good sites to visit to find out more about this:
http://www.retirementnightmare.com/
Report as Offensive
Silver Alert
By Jeffrey Golin on Jun 4, 2008 6:00:34 PM
This is an absolutely horrible law, attempting to clone the Amber Alert system to apply to seniors and disabled. I picture an able 70 year old senior trying to escape from nursing home abuse and probate court corruption trying to make a run for the border to save his life, with the CHP in hot pursuit a la OJ Simpson and the highway signs flashing "CITIZENS ALERT, SENIOR CITIZEN TRYING TO ESCAPE" to try to bring him back. Doesn't anyone realize just how corrupt the probate courts are presently, that there is a wave of white collar crime ripping off the elderly to rob and steal their estates and property, extending all the way to the public sector?
If you aren't aware of it, you have not had it happen to you or one of your family yet. If you get older and have saved up something to steal, you are a candidate. People are being dragooned into unjust conservatorships, and there is a nationwide crime racket obsessed with catching their victims and bringing them back just like bounty hunters for slaves, treating them like criminals. People have to get smart that our present-day courts and criminal justice system are corrupt and feed on the elderly and sick, and run amok denying citizens their civil rights. Sure there are elders who may need help, but it isn't enough to make virtual slaves of them in probate courts. It is like creating a cradle to grave Gulag America. Sound radical? Check it out for yourself.
Report as Offensive
By Maureen Rempher on May 29, 2008 3:02:34 PM
How can we, concerned citizens, promote the need for this system, here in California? Speaking for parents of Dependent Adult members in their family, stated the need for this system to be adopted nationwide. So, how do we proceed and to inform our government representatives to listen. All responses welcome, based on this specific topic. I am willing to gather large groups to promote the information and gather signatures! My next step ought to be?
Dusty Rempher
Report as Offensive