Elderly people, especially those with signs of dementia, should wear tracking bracelets, which boosts the probability that they will be found if they go missing to 99 percent, the Federation for the Welfare of the Elderly said on Thursday.
Since its inception in 2001, the federation has collaborated with the Ministry of Health and Welfare in searches for 7,701 elderly people.
Of those, 1,350 did not have tracking bracelets, the ministry said, adding that 341 of them have not been found.
Photo: Yang Mien-chieh, Taipei Times
The ministry estimated that it finds 75 percent of those it is tasked with finding.
Most of the elderly people who go missing have shown signs of dementia, so to help prevent them from going missing, it has distributed more than 20,000 tracking bracelets, federation secretary-general Chang Shu-ching (張淑卿) said.
When wearing a bracelet, the chances of finding a missing person within a month are as high as 90 percent and the rate rises to 99 percent with more time, Chang said.
However, the bracelets cost NT$200 each, while maintenance and operational costs are as much as NT$500, so donations are needed to continue running the project, Chang said.
Fingerprint records can be created at a local police station to increase the chances of reuniting lost people with their families, the federation said, adding that taking regular photos of them would give searchers the best information about what they look like and what they are wearing.
Family members should have a list of physical features, common phrases and the language they speak, which helps speed up the process of finding people, the federation said.
Devices can be installed to alert family members if an elderly relative leaves their room, it said.
The Anfa Clinic is to mark Grandparents’ Day tomorrow and World Alzheimer’s Month next month with a fundraiser in collaboration with the federation. Proceeds are to go toward the ministry’s work finding missing elderly people.
Taiwanese golfer Yani Tseng (曾雅妮) would make a video for the event, the clinic said.
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