Partnership gives police faster access to information about missing people
REGINA Saskatchewan has become the first in Canada to enter into a provincewide partnership with the Canadian Medicalert Foundation, giving 27 police services access to an online medical database to help identify and assist lost or missing vulnerable individuals.
“This is a really good day — a step forward I think in public safety for our province,” said Regina Police Service Chief Evan Bray. “I’m going to guess that every month or two we have a situation where we’ve got someone who wanders away from a care facility, wanders away from a hospital (and) finds themselves somewhat lost in the community.”
Bray, along with the rest of the province’s police chiefs, signed the partnership during the Saskatchewan Association of Police Chiefs (SAPC) fall meeting on Wednesday morning.
Already used by 14 other police services in Canada, the Medicalert Connect Protect service gives emergency responders and health care providers 24/7, immediate access to Medicalert subscribers’ electronic medical profile.
Profiles include information on wandering tendencies, medical conditions, photos and behaviour management strategies like anxiety triggers and de-escalation techniques.
The service is geared toward people who may wander and get lost, like those with Alzheimer’s, dementia, autism and brain injuries.
Each subscriber has a custom-engraved Medicalert ID bracelet, watch or necklace, which includes the subscriber’s unique identification number and links emergency responders and health-care providers — in this case, police — to their medical profile. The profile is updated by the subscriber or their caregiver as needed.
“Sixty per cent of people who have dementia will at some point throughout their disease process, go missing, often without any ap- parent reason,” said Joanne Michael, director of programs and operations with the Alzheimer Society of Saskatchewan. “Having the police have direct access to information about them that is stored on the Medicalert database will just help to increase the response time and get that person home safely, sooner.”
In Saskatoon, the service will be in addition to a similar program that was announced in April 2017. Called Project Lifesaver, it is a search-and-rescue program that communities across Canada and the United States are using to find people who are prone to wander.
Families of vulnerable people can apply to receive a bracelet with an individualized radio frequency that can be activated in emergencies.
“Saskatchewan is a place where there’s inclement weather, we have rivers and we have areas where people might be difficult to locate, so the longer someone’s missing, the more likely they are to come to harm,” said Saskatoon police Chief Troy Cooper. “The earlier we can get that information, the better.”
Cooper said the early access to pictures and medical information available through Project Lifesaver has proven to be incredibly critical, and this new partnership will be another opportunity to utilize an effective strategy.
The service doesn’t only improve the safety of vulnerable individuals who wander or get lost, but helps give their family members and caregivers peace of mind.
“One of the greatest fears for family members of people with dementia is that something is going to happen to their family member,” said Michael. “Them having a greater confidence that the police response will be even greater and that they will have access to information, is great.”
The partnership was formed between Saskatchewan municipal police services, the RCMP and Medicalert with guidance from SACP, which presented Medicalert with a $4,000 cheque on Wednesday.
The money, which was matched by Medicalert, is going towards free one-year subscriptions and is expected to help approximately 150 people on a first-come, firstserve basis.
“It’s a phenomenal win for Saskatchewan, for Saskatchewan policing and for the public,” said SACP president and Weyburn police Chief Marlo Pritchard.
Visit your local police service or medicalert.ca for more information or to register.