Wandering alarms

I'm sure there is such a thing. When I was in the rehab hospital, some patients had a device attached to the wheel chair. It had a cord or wire that attached to the patient. If they fell, or got out of the chair, an alarm would go off. That's not quite what you are looking for, but it indicates to me that something suitable just has to exist.

Wandering alarms
Yes, I know about those bed/wheelchair alarms all too well. Nursing homes and hospitals are certainly not famous for creature comforts, especially for visitors, so finding a place to sit where a visitor doesn't set off one of those things on getting up can be tricky. But eventually I found out how to disarm them until I finished my visit. Learn something new and different every day...

Late last night I googled these devices, and there are a number of manufacturers, but so far I haven't found one that works at the distance involved. Like a cordless (not cell) phone, the maximum distance from alarm to receiver seems to be fairly small. Our apartment is a long way away from the security desk. And some devices require elaborate installation which I am sure management would not permit, so those I eliminated immediately.

But I'm continuing to look; there must be a solution somewhere.And this is important - it may make the difference between Bob staying at home and going permanently to Clark House which, top of the line or not, is not at all what we would be happy with.

There was a recent news story about the use of RFID tags with Alzheimer's patients. The idea wasn't quite the same but there isn't any reason it couldn't work.

The tags are implanted under the skin so they can't get lost. An RFID scanner on any door could provide for such an alarm system. Someone has to have designed such a thing. It isn't much different than the tags that stores put on high-value items that kick off an alarm if you try to walk out of the store with them.

I'll poke around later and see if I can find a system designed for home use.

They have such security devices for kids where the parent has them wear the device and an alarm goes off on the parent's side of the device to alert them that the kid has stepped outside the radius of the safety zone they defined.

Something like that may work for elderly who tend to wander.

My brother-in-laws father, while suffering from altziemer's, wore a GPS beacon so that he could be tracked by computer. I know this doesn't help him if he panics, but it might help you if you panic, TomKitten.

Here's two products like what I was describing above:

http://dmart.stores.yahoo.net/franalchdimo.html

http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/vbsik.html

Setanta suggests you look into a WanderGuard at home system.

here is a link to the system from an autism site

http://www.autism-ally.com/


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As I recall, a friend of the hamburgers has been fitted with one of these at the residence he is now at - allows him to wander a certain distance on his own before the alarm sounds.

Wandering alarms
One difficulty is that our Security Desk is much further from our apartment than any alarm system I've yet found would work with. Also, any installation at the Security Desk would have to be extremely simple - I fear Management might not accept even that, though I've just emailed our Managing Director.

Roger - I've read about the RFID thing, too, and will pursue it.

Butrflynet - I'll pursue that, too. Thanks.

this is the portable version

http://www.autism-ally.com/products/tabs-voice-plus/tabs-voice-plus.htm

fairly affordable at less than $300 u.s.

~~~

Set says to try and stay with the WanderGuard brand - it's the one used by hospitals - very reliable - he says they never got service calls on it.

Here's a series of articles on wandering patients and how to make them safer. Each of the articles recommends various devices for the type of protection needed:

Locks and Wandering Part 1 of 3

Alarms - Precautions for Wandering Part 2 of 3

Deterrents and Disersions: Precautions for Wandering Part 3 of 3

Tomkitten--

Forewarned is forearmed. You're doing all you possibly can.

Wandering alarms
Okay! I'm going to check out all your suggestions. There are so many it should take most of the afternoon; surely one of them will provide an answer.

Tomorrow I will be meeting with the head of Assisted Living , and will ask if she thinks a receiver could be set up in her office - they are manned 24/7, although not for staying with a patient for more than 15 minutes at a time. But just to have someone know what's going on would be a great relief. I'll ask her about RFID, and all the rest, so I'll do my homework today.

Bob is very very frail, and the doors to the outside are extremely heavy, so it's unlikely that he could open them and get outside the building. But it's an awfully big building - and anyway, I've known of cases where the most surprising people have shown the most surprising physical strength under severe emotional stress. So naturally my mind leaps to the worst possible scenario: he does get the front door open, wanders into the woods, falls, and injures himself.

Tomkitten--

Any luck? Any progress?

Wandering alarms
Noddy - The whole situation has completely changed. Bob can no longer stay at home. I am praying that Clark House has a bed for him; we are waiting to hear.

Tomkitten--


You have been prepared for Bob's decline, but all the same this must be a distressing time for you.

Hold your dominion.