Wandering and getting lost is a serious issue for Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers. Some ways to minimize the risk of wanderiing include:
- conceal and/or camouflage doors
- install locks and alarm systems
- put labels on doors explaining purpose of room, ie bathroom, kitchen, bedroom
- figure out when wandering is most likely to occur and distract the person with activities during this time
- reassure them that they are in the right place
But if these simple measures fail or seem too restrictive, there is a much more technical way of keeping track of the Alzheimer’s patient – the Columba bracelet. It looks …read more

An article in the Manchester (England) Evening News, “Plans to Tag Dementia Patients,” introduces the idea of tagging older, or dementia affected, people so they can be tracked by satellite.  This proposal has been met with mixed reaction.
Balancing freedom and safety becomes the issue.  If someone has cared for a family member with Alzheimer’s or some form of dementia, they would be more likely to favor a tracking monitor.  If a person never has, they might consider this restrictive and repressing the person’s freedom…a form of unnecessary control.
We had a friend, in the mid stages of Alzheimer’s, who left his wife …read more

The tendency to escape…from home, the nursing home, daycare….is common with Alzheimer’s patients.  Most seem to develop a cleverness when it comes to circumventing locks and hooks on doors.  They even learn to slip into an elevator when the door opens, then descend to the main floor of a nursing home or apartment where they can proceed outside.
You may hear on the news how a patient got outside and wandered away from a nursing home or their home. They seem to have some instinct, some radar, that tells them when someone isn’t in the room.
I had trouble with Auntie and Mother …read more