Ohio Department of Aging
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May 2008
Policy and Legislation: State Legislators Create Senior Alert System
Approximately 5.1 million people in the United States suffer some form of dementia, and about 60 percent of those will wander from their homes or care facilities, according to the Alzheimer's Association. When senior citizens are missing, the first 24 hours are critical because 50 percent of the elderly who are lost either sustain serious injuries or die after that first day. A rapid response also is necessary because of seniors' medical or medication needs.
Thanks to a law introduced by State Senator John Carey and signed in late March by Governor Ted Strickland, police across the state will be able to issue an alert for missing elderly people. Similar to an Amber Alert for missing children, this senior alert will be used statewide and nationally to help locate missing older persons who can't be found and whose safety may be in jeopardy.
The law will allow local law enforcement agencies to put information out on highway signs and other public outlets in hopes that someone will see the alert and have a tip on the location of the missing person. People at risk include any individual who has some type of mental illness such as Alzheimer's, dementia or any other disease that could keep the person from finding their way back home.
Other qualifications that fall under the new law include any individual who poses a credible threat of immediate danger of serious bodily harm or death to themselves or someone else in conjunction with their mental condition.
This law, used in conjunction with other programs such as Project Lifesaver, which is used in seventeen counties, will help wandering seniors return safely to their homes. The quicker lost seniors can be found, the less stress they, and their worried families, have to experience.
Ohio Department of Aging