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‘Remember’ Missing Persons and Dementia Awareness Campaign

Missing Persons WeekThis week is Missing Persons Week and the theme for 2014 is Missing Persons and Dementia.

Each year in Australia 35,000 people are reported missing, which equates to one every 15 minutes. There are three groups most at risk of going missing; those living with a mental illness, young people and older people with dementia or memory loss.

While 99.5 per cent of missing persons are located there are approximately 1600 long-term missing persons in Australia. Most are adult males and more than one third of missing persons go missing more than once.

Symptoms that may cause someone to go missing include forgetting well-known people or places, an inability to process questions or instructions, and emotional unpredictability.

If you are a carer of person suffering from dementia who may be at risk of wandering and going missing, there are some steps you can take:

  • ?A physical check-up will help identify whether illness, pain or discomfort has triggered wandering.?
  • Discuss the side effects of medication with the doctor.
  • Try to avoid medication which may increase confusion and cause drowsiness and possibly incontinence.
  • ?Ensure that the person carries some form of identification in case they do get lost. An identity bracelet, or card in the
  • wallet, with name, address and telephone number can be very helpful when a person who is missing is found. It may also be helpful to sew a name tag into garments the person wears.
  • If possible, register their details with a ‘safe return program’.
  • ? Some people find it helpful to keep a record or diary so they can see if there is a pattern to the wandering behaviour. It may occur at certain times of the day or in response to certain situations which can then be more carefully controlled.
  • Try to reduce the number of objects in sight which may act as a reminder to the person to wander. Bags, coats, mail for posting and work clothing may encourage wandering.
  • ? Consider bells and buzzers which sound when external doors are opened.
  • ? Make part of the garden secure so that it becomes a safe place to walk around.
  •  Tell neighbours and local shopkeepers about the problem and they may offer to keep a friendly eye on the person.

For more informatin on Missing Persons Week go to www.missingpersons.gov.au

 

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Alana Lowes

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