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Reports coming in this winter of incidents where elderly people suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease have succumbed to the bitter cold, have sparked a new debate about using bracelets which incorporate GPS locators to protect our senior citizens from danger of wandering off.
Ethical questions have, of course, to be addressed and the debate will long continue, but there can be little doubt of the freedom which can enhance the life of an Alzheimer’s sufferer, when families or care-providers know the senior can immediately be traced if they go missing. GPS tracking systems allow for a pre-determined boundary to be set so the care-givers can be instantly alerted if the boundary is breached, and help can be on its way within seconds.
The decline in a person’s ability to make correct judgements starts slowly and gradually worsens, so the early stage sufferers could still be able to carry a certain amount of freedom if bracelets are provided, rather than having to be contained within a residential secure unit for their own protection. Tracking can be non-invasive as the devices can be concealed in a necklace fitted with GPS technology or a GPS wristwatch. Some devices may provide constant tracking; although others only show the location of the senior when the care-giver needs to check their whereabouts.
