Alzheimer's and Dementia Wandering - Safety Products

Wandering is the single most critical worry for a caregiver. Those suffering with Alzheimer's, other forms of dementia and memory loss have a tendency to wander whether they are at home or in unfamiliar surroundings. They are trying to make sense of the world they find themselves in at that moment.

Patients will sometimes leave clues that they are about to wander by announcing that it is time to go home, when in fact they are home. They may get dressed to go to work when they stopped working long ago. Their past memories are now present. Without warning, they may start to wander into forbidden or dangerous areas within their own home - and locked doors could just make a wandering situation more severe.

Reasons Why People Wander

Task Oriented: Most people always have something to do. Even if they don't, they create something to keep their hands and brain busy. People with Alzheimer's relive their former lives and leave their home believing they are going to a job or shopping.

Pain, discomfort and agitation: Emotions can be reason to wander. They are not happy in their present situation so if they move to another location maybe those symptoms will not come with them. But in actuality, they are wandering.

Loss of Memory: When people become disoriented due to their present thoughts disappearing, their reality being blurred or seeking places that were once familiar to them, they wander looking to go back to those comforting and safe places. They are searching for their past.

Disorientation: They may wake up at 5 in the morning and not know if it is day going into night or night going into day. They will leave their surroundings to seek the answer.

What to do if you suspect or have a person that wanders

Take proper precautions...
1) Alert your support group, caregivers, and neighbors that events of wandering may happen.

2) Prepare the home or facility by using products that can lessen the possibility of an occurrence and its effect on all involved. Make it harder for them to wander and if they do, make it safer.

The Alzheimer’s Store offers a variety of dementia products that discourage roaming or alert caregivers when it is occurring.
For those suffering with dementia, there is HELP.

The following items are designed to specifically help those that WANDER

1) Easily recognizable stop signs are excellent deterrents. One of our earliest memories in childhood is a STOP sign. Even late stage patients recognize OFF-LIMIT areas when they see these red and yellow signs.

2) The Alzheimer's Store developed the first Fire Rated Door Mural that is approved for commercial facilities. It consists of a picture of a bookshelf that is so real, you have to touch it to know that it is a mural! The dementia oriented person no longer sees a door to go through. This is great for hiding utility closets or basement doors.

3) At night, indoor motion sensors can alert caregivers of a wandering loved one.

4) GPS devices are the newest technology for wandering. The Alzheimer's patient can be tracked from any computer, tablet or smart phone. A device alerts the caregiver on site or family members or caregivers in remote locations that there is a wandering event occurring and the location of the patient. Others like the Caretaker Sentry, is a pendant to be worn in and around the home with an emergency alert button connected to a land line. So now, those that need 24 hour anywhere/anyplace emergency contact can have the security they need.

Some, but not all, patients with dementia are prone to losing track of where they are. Overall, only one percent of patients are hurt while lost, but their chances of injury rise dramatically the longer that they remain missing.

"Half of all people with dementia who are missing for more than 24 hours die or are seriously injured," wrote psychiatrist Dr. Rupert McShane of Oxford University, who was referencing one of his own studies. McShane argued in favor of using tracking devices for wandering patients in his BMJ commentary.

He explains that 40 percent of dementia patients get lost at some point, but the real danger is with those who repeatedly wander away from their families, private caretakers, or nursing homes. This repetitive behavior happens in five percent of patients. It can strain family ties and lead to resentment between caretakers and dementia sufferers.

Regardless of your patient's progression or need, whether at home or in a facility, we have what you need to keep the caregiver and the patient safe and comfortable.