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6 Votes
14 Comments
GPS shoes for Alzheimer's patients
News Type: Event — Seeded on Sat Jun 6, 2009 7:25 AM EDT
Article Source: PhysOrg.comadvertisement
A shoe-maker and a technology company are teaming up to develop footwear with a built-in GPS device that could help track down "wandering" seniors suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.
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 | Alzheimer's patients to get GPS shoes | abc.net.au | Sat Jun 6 | 3 |
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{"commentId":7493739,"authorDomain":"japark"}
This use of GPS technology has been needed for some time. I hope the cost is kept low enough that people can actually use the devices.
{"commentId":7493739,"threadId":"596728","contentId":"2902530","authorDomain":"japark"}
- 2 votes
#1 - Sat Jun 6, 2009 7:26 AM EDT{"commentId":7493811,"authorDomain":"emartens"}
Not a bad idea. As long as they remember to put them on.
{"commentId":7493811,"threadId":"596728","contentId":"2902530","authorDomain":"emartens"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":7493845,"authorDomain":"japark"}
They won't remember to put them on. The hope is that they won't remove them if someone else dresses them.
{"commentId":7493845,"threadId":"596728","contentId":"2902530","authorDomain":"japark"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":7494049,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
I don't know how many of you have folks in a care facility. But some of them will take the shoes of 'wanderers' to prevent them from slipping away. It doesn't really work since they still slip off, just without shoes. Be aware of the kind of place your loved ones are in. Some are definitely better than others. A better idea might be a gps bracelet or necklace. Or even a subcutaneous chip like those used on pets. I know that sounds kind of cruel but so is dying from exposure as happened recently here to a confused man in his 70's who wandered off from his family home.
{"commentId":7494049,"threadId":"596728","contentId":"2902530","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 3 votes
#2 - Sat Jun 6, 2009 8:33 AM EDT{"commentId":7494129,"authorDomain":"japark"}
I hope your observation is not real. The elderly have an increased tendency to fall and shoeless patients fall more often than patients with shoes on.
Many nursing care facilities use bracelets with a 'wander guard" system to alert staff when a confused patient is exiting from one of the facility's doors. But confused patients do cut off the bracelets.
There is probably no system which cannot fail, but GPS shoes sounds to me like a very good intervention so long as the cost is not prohibitive.
{"commentId":7494129,"threadId":"596728","contentId":"2902530","authorDomain":"japark"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":7494200,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Actually it's all too real. When we put my aunt in a nursing home, we couldn't get her into the one we wanted her in at first. The place we put her had a bad reputation and my mom and I made it a point to stop in and visit her every single day. They had a man there that would go around asking people if they had his shoes. The attendants took his shoes, they left him slippers. The reason they told me they took his shoes was to prevent him from wandering off.
We got my aunt out of there as soon as a bed opened up in another facility, (bed opening up being a euphemism for someone dying.) Everyone should be aware that not all care facilities are the same. My aunt, and now my mom as well, are in 2 facilities that have a good reputation. In fact, my mom worked in the facility in which she now lives for 12 years before she retired.
{"commentId":7494200,"threadId":"596728","contentId":"2902530","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":7494740,"authorDomain":"emartens"}
Humor aside, patients wandering out of facilities is all to real and to common. I worked for years in EMS and we routinely received calls from passers by about people wandering around appearing confused. In most of these cases, once we determined where these people belonged, the facility was shocked to discover they were missing (we rarely received calls from the facility about missing patients.)
They turn up in various forms of dress and undress, with or without shoes, close to their facility or miles away. The only pattern is neglect by the facility.
If you ever need to place a loved one in a home, check it out thoroughly.
A bracelet might be preferable as long as the patient cannot remove it.
{"commentId":7494740,"threadId":"596728","contentId":"2902530","authorDomain":"emartens"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":7494990,"authorDomain":"japark"}
I did not want this thread to become a nursing home bash, but that seems to be the direction.
Let me make some comments in favor of nursing homes:
- A patient can leave a facility and be half a mile away in a few minutes, just like you can.
- A patient can hitch a ride with a passing stranger and be anywhere, just like you can.
Most nursing homes and most people working in nursing homes care very much about the patients in the nursing home. People expect that a nursing home can magically change human behavior and heal all sickness. No nursing home can.
A patient who is dying will still die when admitted to a nursing home.
A patient who falls frequently will still fall when admitted to a nursing home.
A patient who wanders will still wander when admitted to a nursing home.
Many people come to a nursing home to receive therapy, etc. for return to home. Many get better and go home.
The constant legal assaults on nursing homes and the continued reluctance of government (Medicaid and Medicare) to pay for nursing home care is resulting in fewer nursing homes.
People may soon have no reason to continue to bash nursing homes because they will be unable to find a nursing home bed when they need one.
{"commentId":7494990,"threadId":"596728","contentId":"2902530","authorDomain":"japark"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":7495224,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
sorry jpark, didn't mean to make it sound that way. The home my mother is in is part of a chain, Brian Center. It's a very good home and I would recommend it to anyone. The home my aunt is in is also a very good home. Many nursing homes are understaffed. Additionally, many young and healthy people with mental problems wind up in nursing homes because there are no good alternatives.
{"commentId":7495224,"threadId":"596728","contentId":"2902530","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":7495311,"authorDomain":"japark"}
There is a real problem with a lack of facilities for the mentally ill, drug abusers and criminals. The state mental health institutions used to be placement facilities for these groups until the states closed most of them and severely reduced the utilization of the remaining institutions. Lack of funding is the root cause.
Lack of funding is also at the root of low staffing. Nursing homes would gladly provide 24 hour one to one staffing if anyone would pay for it.
{"commentId":7495311,"threadId":"596728","contentId":"2902530","authorDomain":"japark"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":7495343,"authorDomain":"emartens"}
Sorry to go off topic.
{"commentId":7495343,"threadId":"596728","contentId":"2902530","authorDomain":"emartens"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":7495515,"authorDomain":"japark"}
Its OK. People have strong feelings about nursing homes. I do too.
{"commentId":7495515,"threadId":"596728","contentId":"2902530","authorDomain":"japark"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":7557809,"authorDomain":"jdoyle"}
Wheel makes a good point: the key is for the family to visit often and on an irregular pattern.
I spent years working maintenance at a nursing home and noticed the staff took more timer with residents whose families came on a regular basis. However when they knew the routine such as a person always coming at 500pm after work, they would blow off some of the care until near time when the family would come.
Let me make some comments in favor of nursing homes:
- A patient can leave a facility and be half a mile away in a few minutes, just like you can.
- A patient can hitch a ride with a passing stranger and be anywhere, just like you can.
Good point Jpark, and don't forget they often have a bit of cash on them and can hop a bus and be miles away before anyone knows they are gone.
{"commentId":7557809,"threadId":"596728","contentId":"2902530","authorDomain":"jdoyle"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":7569430,"authorDomain":"japark"}
jdoyle,
I once had a patient disappear. Discovered that the patient had hitched a ride with a policeman outside the facility.
Fortunately, the policeman noticed that the patient was confused after a bit and figured that he was a patient at the nursing home.
{"commentId":7569430,"threadId":"596728","contentId":"2902530","authorDomain":"japark"}
- 2 votes
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