Hawaii to Test GPS Locator to Help Find Wandering Alzheimer Patients

The Alzheimer's Association-Aloha Chapter in Hawaii will test the new Wherify GPS Personal Locator designed to help caregivers locate a wandering Alzheimer's patients, according to Wherify Wireless Inc..

Approved by the national Alzheimer's Association, the field-testing will be headed by Dr. Bret Flynn and Dr. John Buzanoski of the Aloha Chapter's Scientific Medical Research Committee, along with members of the Honolulu Police Department Missing Person's Division.

The Wherify GPS Personal Locator, scheduled to go on the market by the end of 2001, uses the convergence of Global Positioning System (GPS) and digital wireless technologies in its miniaturized, wrist-worn locator.

In less than 60 seconds, the caregiver can use the Internet or phone to identify the whereabouts of an Alzheimer's patient within several feet of their exact location. In an emergency, the patient or the caregiver can request emergency 911 response and local police will be dispatched to the patient's location.

It is estimated that 60 percent of all Alzheimer's patients will wander, possibly getting lost, sometime during the course of their disease.

Other sources: Wherify Wireless