Silver Alert: A variation of ‘Amber Alert’ for seniors with dementia
By Correne Martin
Wisconsin’s Silver Alert Program was established in August 2014, after an elderly Green Bay couple, Leo and Claire Baeb, who had dementia, got lost in June 2013 while traveling to see family. They were located more than 24 hours later, alive and safe, but after having traveled several hundred miles. Their daughter, who lived in Florida, where a Silver Alert program was in place, wondered if her family would have been found if a similar network had been available in Wisconsin. That is what sparked legislation in the state that implemented the Silver Alert Program (modeled after the commonly-known Amber Alert).
To date, thanks to the program, there have been 98 activations of the alert for missing and at-risk senior citizens. Four have been found dead and one is still missing, otherwise the rest have been located after being reported to law enforcement. Two-thirds have been male, 59 percent have been in a vehicle and the average age has been 77. Also, the average time missing has been 15 hours, which includes the average of 10 hours before someone contacts law enforcement about the missing person.
Five million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, including 116,000 in Wisconsin. Three out of five individuals with the disease will wander, according to Kari Orn, Wisconsin Silver Alert coordinator, and the majority of those people are not dressed appropriately for weather conditions. If the missing are not found within 24 hours of their disappearance, up to half of them will suffer injury or death.
At a recent meeting of the Crawford County Dementia Task Force, Orn explained the six details that need to be present in order for a Silver Alert to be issued.
1.) Is the missing person age 60 or older?
2.) Is he/she believed to have a type of dementia or cognitive impairment that poses a threat to the health and safety of themselves or others? No diagnosis is required.
3.) Is there reasonable belief that they’ve disappeared due to their condition?
4.) Can the request be sent within 72 hours of disappearance?
5.) Is there sufficient information to help the public assist in finding the person?
6.) Has the person’s name been submitted to the national missing person registry?
If a family member or friend has a missing loved one, they are encouraged to contact law enforcement, who can utilize the Wisconsin Crime Alert Network (WCAN) to issue a Silver Alert. Once the aforementioned criteria are met, if possible, a picture or description of the person, and a license plate number and/or vehicle description are obtained. Then an alert is sent to media, lottery terminals, digital billboards and Department of Transportation dynamic messaging boards for presentation, at their discretion, to the public.
Alerts are also posted on the Wisconsin Silver Alert Facebook page and Twitter account. Plus, they are distributed to public WCAN subscribers via text, email and fax. Anyone can subscribe for free by visiting wisconsincrimealert.gov.
If you believe Silver Alert might be a useful tool in the case of your missing loved one, be prepared by maintaining a recent picture of the person in electronic form so it can be utilized quickly to help find the missing person; keep a recent picture of the car the person may be driving; note any markings on the car that could make it easier to identify (dents, vanity plates, bumper stickers, etc.); and know their medical issues and medications.
Orn added that people might find smartphone locator apps helpful in knowing the whereabouts of their loved ones as well.
For more information about Silver Alert, visit www.wisconsincrimealert.gov/silveralert.html.
To find out more about the Crawford County Dementia Task Force, contact Jeanne Christie in the local ADRC office at 326-0235.
