Finding Your Way

Wednesday, 5 November 2014 05:09

The Alzheimer Society of Oxford working with community partners on a plan for those who have dementia and may wander off

OXFORD COUNTY - The Alzheimer Society of Oxford is looking to work with community stakeholders in developing a plan should residents with dementia wander off and go missing.

The Alzheimer Society is hosting an invite only workshop to introduce their Finding Your Way program to the community, which is being billed as the other half of what to do if someone goes missing

Enhanced Family Support Worker with the Alzheimer Society of Oxford, Beth Haas says part of the workshop is an opportunity to strategize with other stakeholders such as OPP and other mental health professionals.

"How can we all, as community stakeholders, keep someone with dementia safe in our community? We know that there is different ways to approach someone, we know that the OPP might be doing something differently from the general public for example so it's trying to find together strategies that we can all use and we are all on the same page and aware of."

"Perhaps we can roll out this identification kit -- it's a simple hand out that can be found online -- and that anybody can complete it," continues Haas. "What we instruct our clients or anyone with dementia to do is have this completed and ready as a form of insurance but I'm hoping that after Thursday we have a concrete plan in place."

Among the stakeholders invited to the event are Woodstock Police, Canadian Mental Health Association, Red Cross, Long term care facilities and retirement homes as well as members of the local Amish community.

According to the Alzheimer Society of Oxford, 3 out of 5 people with dementia will go missing at some point during the progression of the disease and if they are not found within 24 hours, half of their will have a serious injury or even die.

Haas says it is fairly common in the County for people to wander off though luckily there haven't been any disastrous results.

"We know that 6 out of 10 people over the course of their dementia will go missing and there is many different causes. It could be because they have gone back in time and think that they have to pick up their children from school." Haas goes on to say fairly early on in dementia, the topographical memory gets damaged early on, which means the risk of getting lost increases significantly.