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The Safely Home bracelet helps identify registered people suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia.

Safely Home: Because home is where the heart is

By Kim Fauteux

Picture this: you are 82 years old, you decide to go outside for a walk and suddenly, after walking for a while, you want to go back home, but you do not remember how to get there. You are tired, confused and disoriented, and you cannot find anyone around to ask for help. Every year, this scenario repeats itself over and over again, and an estimated 450 000 Canadians over the age of 65 have Alzheimer’s or a related form of dementia. That is why the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, in partnership with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, decided to put in place a Search and Rescue New Initiatives Fund project entitled Safely Home.

Finding lost people quickly is primordial to bringing them back home safe and sound, and that’s the goal of the program, which was established in 1995. The program, formerly known as Safely Home, Alzheimer Wandering Registry, was awarded government funding in March 2007. The Safely Home Registry was created so that people with dementias can be registered, before they go wandering and get lost. The registration is voluntary and requires a one-time fee of $35. Once a person is registered, information is entered into a database, which can be accessed if he or she goes missing.

People who are registering get a bracelet on which their first name and the words “memory loss” and “call police” are engraved, with an identification number that is linked to the database. Safely Home assists police in finding lost people; when a person is registered, police officers can access the database to find information, namely personal history and physical characteristics that could help them find the missing person in a timely manner. Families of the people living with the disease also receive caregiver handbooks, as well as wallet-sized identification cards.

Training

One of the five major goals of the program is to offer nationwide standardized training in order to enhance the effectiveness of search and rescue (SAR) response to persons with Alzheimer’s disease who go missing. Janice Hebb, who trains RCMP and police officers on this program, held an exercise in Manitoba, in which a person went “missing” from a personal care home. Search and rescue personnel were then able to practice what they learned. “Police officers didn’t always know how to access the database, so I give them a 30 to 45 minutes presentation about the program, and then we talk about it”, says the trainer who has been with the Alzheimer’s Society for three years.

In May, Janice Hebb received a telephone call from the RCMP in Teulon, Manitoba, regarding an 84 year-old gentleman who had disappeared. RCMP officers had been searching for about 24 hours and they wanted her to give them advice on how to approach the situation. Fortunately, in this case, the officers and SAR volunteers, aided by a helicopter provided by a private company, found the unharmed missing man, and she did not have to go out and search with them.

Ms. Hebb, like other trainers and SAR volunteers, enjoys working with families to ensure that people suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia are safe, and can be brought back home quickly if they do go missing. “I am passionate about my work and it breaks my heart when I hear that someone with dementia is lost. Family members should ensure to register people suffering from the disease as soon as possible. It is a good safety net”, explains Ms. Hebb. She also believes that it would be an asset if legislation could be passed so that the Safely Home Registry would become mandatory.

Persons who would like to register a family member can do so at the following address: www.safelyhome.ca/en/safelyhome/ register.asp. Please note that it takes up to four to six weeks to get the bracelet; it is therefore important to register as soon as possible, before people suffering from the disease go wandering and get lost.

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