Safer communities the key to help wanderers
As the “grey tsunami” of Canada’s aging population approaches, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia will become more prevalent in our society. Some predictions say the number of people facing dementia will double in the next 15 years to as many as 1.5 million Canadians.
There is no cure for dementia. But maybe looking for a cure is the wrong way to think of it, says Dr. Frank Knoefel of Bruyère Research Institute’s Memory Program.
“Maybe we just need to think differently about the brain,” Knoefel said. “I’m not as fast as I was in my 20s. I know I can’t run the 100 metres in 10 seconds for the rest of my life. Why do I expect my brain to do that? Why can’t we just say, ‘Hey, this is good news. We’re living longer, but you know what? When you get out to that end, we’re going to have to think about how we take care of ourselves differently.’ ”
CHANGING THE ENVIRONMENT
In some cases, that means physically altering the environment. At the Queensway Carleton Hospital’s ACE unit (Acute Care of the Elderly), the rooms are colourcoded to make it easier for a confused patients to find their way back to their room. The flooring is the same light colour throughout, since those with dementia can misinterpret dark areas of the floor as holes they might fall into. (The same technique can be used in reverse: Dark flooring is used in areas where patients aren’t supposed to go.)
The Alzheimer’s Society lists strategies such as painting or wallpapering doors to make them less obvious, moving the locks on doors to where they’re harder to reach or placing hats and coats out of sight so the person isn’t reminded of going outside. Furniture can be arranged to change the flow of movement in the room away from exits.
Advocates say the techniques are simple and effective and can help keep the person safer for longer without resorting to confining a loved one in a secure, long-termcare home.
“We’re going to have to think differently about how we design our spaces so that people who need more clues about where they are, are given that chance,” Knoefel said. “Rather than think of it as the ‘war on Alzheimer’s,’ we need to say, ‘This is a reality. How do we live with that? How do we minimize its impact?’ ”
At the Bruyère, research is underway on ways to make houses “smarter” — an extra set of “eyes and ears” to take some of the burden off the caregiver. If someone were to get up and go to the kitchen to get a glass of water, that’s OK, but if they were to touch the stove or try to open the front door, the caregiver would be alerted.
“We’re trying to design a system that monitors movement of a person within the home,” Knoefel said. “It could send a voice message: ‘Honey, why don’t you come back to bed.’ It’s like a substitute spouse.”
TECH TOOLS
Other tools can be used to help find a lost senior. For example, iPhones can be used to track the person carrying them. GPS devices can be carried, worn like a wristwatch or surreptitiously slipped into a pocket or shoes. Though these can work, they’re not without problems, said Sgt. Reno Rushford of the Ottawa police Missing Persons Unit.
“You bring them back and say something like, ‘Good thing you had those shoes because we were able to find you.’ Well guess what? The next time, I’ll guarantee you they won’t be wearing those shoes.
“Same thing with a cellphone. We’ll find it all right, but it will be in a garbage can. The person finds it in their pocket, says ‘I don’t have a cellphone’ and they’ll toss it out.”
Meanwhile, the public will need to be increasingly aware of wanderers and be ready to help, Rushford said.
“Sometimes they will sit in Tim Hortons for four hours. People will think, ‘Oh, here’s a nice old man having coffee.’ But hey, they’ve been there for four hours. Did you never think to call to see if someone’s looking for them?”