Bill would create alerts for missing seniors

By Sarah Thomas, Lowell Sun Correspondent

BOSTON--The images are familiar--neighbors combing woods and police walking dogs along creek beds, while frantic family members hope for their loved one's safe return. This is the stuff of Amber Alerts, which connects law enforcement, communities and the media to look for missing children.

Now, if legislation discussed yesterday by the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs passes, the same response will be extended to missing senior citizens.

These "Silver Alerts" would apply specifically to seniors diagnosed with a cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer's disease or dementia.

State Rep. Jim Miceli, D-Wilmington, has filed a similar bill that would extend Silver Alert status to all cognitively impaired adults, regardless of age.

"If the focus is on seniors because of cost, I will still support it," Miceli said after the committee meeting. "Whoever sponsors this legislation, it should be passed."

According to the National Institute on Aging, Alzheimer's disease affects more than 4 million older adults in America.

"A very quick, very organized and very planned initial response will reduce the assets deployed to find the missing person, as well as the chance of injury or worse," said Curt Rudge, chief of Ranger Services for the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Rudge added that these search-and-rescue operations differ from other missing-persons cases, because impaired seniors may not call for help, respond to their names or, in some cases, even know they're lost.
 
Gerald Flaherty, vice president of the Alzheimer's Association of Massachusetts, said sometimes the elderly will make themselves more difficult to find.

"In some cases, a wandering senior will have a severe panic reaction and hide," he said.

He said about 60 percent of seniors diagnosed with dementia experience wandering behavior, and 90 percent are found within a mile of their last known location.

"If a senior is found within 24 hours of going missing, injuries are usually minimal," Flaherty said. "But after that, there is a 45 percent mortality rate."

The committee also heard testimony on two bills to initiate a statewide education campaign on the dangers of falling for seniors. According to testimony, one-third of all people over the age of 65 will fall this year, and falls are the leading cause of injury death for seniors.

"The mortality and morbidity for this is just awful," said Karen Devereaux Melillo, chair of the Nursing Department at UMass Lowell, who presented written testimony. "And sometimes, even older adults don't understand the risks."

Melillo's father died in 2007 after a fall-related injury.

Both Melillo and Naomi Prendergast, CEO of D'Youville Senior Care Center in Lowell, stressed the importance of fall-proofing homes for seniors, with such items as grab bars installed in bathrooms, night lights and properly maintained sidewalks.

"Even scatter rugs should be used with extreme caution," Prendergast said.