The Caring Corner®

Using GPS to Track Dementia Patients

January 15, 2016

Denmark has recognized the need to keep dementia patients safe by using GPS tracking devices to monitor the movements of elderly care home residents. Most municipalities have introduced the tracking systems after a new law allowed the elderly to be fitted with alarm and tracking devices in 2010. Most of the devices consist of alarms which are activated when a resident leaves an area or with a GPS device to quickly locate a missing patient that has wandered off.

 

Technology has really allowed more freedom for the patients. They can walk where they want without doors being locked. There is no more fear of patients wandering around in freezing temperatures or getting lost since they can be quickly located and returned to their homes. There are some concerns about patients losing their privacy, but overall they have more freedom without being locked inside. Most dementia patients don’t leave the residential homes because they are unhappy, but because they believe they are going to work or have some gardening to do. With the growing number of Alzheimer’s diagnosis, this is a new solution for caring for patients.

 

 

 

If you need an in home care giver for your elderly loved one in Chapel Hill or Durham, we can help. Care givers are screened and go through rigorous background checks.

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