Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Wandering is a common symptom of Alzheimer’s disease, dementia or other cognitive disorders. According to the Alzheimer’s Association more than 60 percent of those with the condition wander at some point and up to 70 percent of those who wander will do so again. More than 127,000 critical wandering incidents are reported each year. If not found within the first 24 hours, up to half of all persons with dementia who wander will become seriously injured or die, according to research obtained by the Alzheimer’s Association.

Caregivers of individuals who suffer from dementia and live at home should take precautionary measures to ensure their family member’s safety. This includes installing deadbolt or slide-bolt locks on exterior doors and limited access to potentially dangerous areas of the home. (Never lock a person with dementia in a home without supervision.)

Many nursing homes also take steps to keep patients suffering from cognitive disorders from wandering out of the home, such as keeping units locked and making sure residents prone to wander wear bracelets that trigger an alarm if they wander outside a safe area.

Even with such measures in place, some patients still manage to escape. Earlier this week the Chicago Tribune reported that an 81-year-old Illinois man who suffered from dementia was found dead on the side of a road after wandering out of his nursing home. He had slipped out a window.

And late last month we told you about an Ohio woman with dementia whose body was found 100 feet from the nursing home where she had wandered from earlier that evening.

For information on how to keep your family member safe, visit the Alzheimer’s Association at www.alz.org.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 7:00 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.