As we’re, already in the era of, super elderly here, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…
There’d been the families of demented elderly who’d told me, “you kept calling to the public to take a note of the matter of dementia and Alzheimer’s, we’re all very grateful, but, every time I’d inquired to the related organized inquired to the related organization if there are ways to prevent the elderly from wandering off and getting lost, they’d always told me to put that bracelet on my parents or use the GPS tracking devices. I feel, that those who’d suggested these resolves, surely, they’d never considered, how the elderly population would, hate these things.” He’d sighed, “what are the ways that really actually, worked, to prevent the elderly from getting lost?”
Seeing how stressed he was, I’d recalled the famed physician, Hasegawa, who is also, an Alzheimer’s patient himself describing his own personal experiences of wandering lost: “in the subway I took many times on end, I’d felt, strange in it. I can’t find my usual route, so I had to, ask someone for help.” The man immediately rebutted, “this Japanese physician knew to ask for help!”
I’d said, “Think about it, who gets lost the most often, not the already progressed into the advanced stages patients of Alzheimer’s, but those who are only in the beginning stages of it, their symptoms still hadn’t worsened to them not heading out, so they would still, ride out or to stroll, that’s why they get lost easily.”
That day, we’d, discussed many issues of elderly with dementia wandering off, losing their ways, there were the books in Japan, who are, more advanced in the super elderly era than here, discussing the matters of demented elderly getting lost, that got translated into Chinese that officially introduced the term, “demented wandering lost” formally. This will only get more and more apparent, and more serious, the key being: what can we do, for the demented elderly who wander off easily”
I suggest that the families who’d found the symptoms of dementia, setting in the elderly in their homes to see if they’re willing to wear an identification, a GPS tracker of sorts, if they don’t, or they are up for it, then, you can have the elder carry a phone with GPS capability on it, the functions should be simplistic, but the volumes must be turned up to maximum, so the elder would know that someone is calling them, and can clearly talk with the caller.
If the elder refused these, then, you can try and put the bracelets or the necklaces with the identification markers, normally, the clinics have these available for asking, but if the elder thought the appearances of these aren’t to their liking, then, the families can get the personalized jewelry for her/him to wear.
the floor plans of a dementia-friendly living environment, found online
And if none of these are accepted by the elder, then, the families can keep track of the elder’s appearances, to help the police recover them when they get lost. The means include: taking the photos every day and updating the photo on their identification cards, documenting the elderly’s face, body, and clothes, in the most convenient of ways, that way, when the elder wanders off, the police can use the facial recognition software to find them. And, with the fingerprints on records with the local police stations, this can help the families find their lost elders with dementia back more easily.
And, a lot of the families started stitching the names of their elders on their clothes, along with a contact phone number, and if you’re worried that this can leak the personal data out, then, you can stitch the QR codes on, or stitch the personal data in some place not visible, like behind the collar, or in the inset of the clothes, as the police find the demented elderly wandering, they will try to find the clues of where these elderly come from from what they were wearing first.
I’d told the family these examples, and, I’d returned to the Japanese physician’s case. I’d told the family, “don’t matter the stages of dementia, as the patients of dementia understand to ask around, then, it can greatly reduce the chances of them, getting lost. But unfortunately, the elders, they don’t ask on their own.”
I’d stressed, that “I hope that when it comes to our generations aging into the elderly age, we can ask more, then, we will, reduce the risk of getting lost. Of course, there would be the needs of those whom the elderly ask to have the empathy over how the elderly feel confused and anxious as they got lost, and leading them toward the right directions, to the point, of leading them to the police to ask for help—this, would be what’s called, “Alzheimer’s Friendly Community”, so long as the environment is positive and warm and gentle toward elderly who are demented, then, the elderly with dementia will get home more easily.”
And so, this still showed, how we all need to, chip in, to watch out for one another, to lend a helping hand to someone who needs, but unfortunately, due to many cases of awful incidents that’s already, happened, people are, less and less likely, to help, and you still can’t keep your demented elderly family members locked up, chained up at home, and so, the problems remained, unresolved.