Ankle bracelets proposed for Alzheimer’s patients

Utah authorities think they have a valuable new use for the ubiquitous ankle bracelet: to locate missing patients with Alzheimer’s or dementia.

Officials in Davis County, about half an hour north of Salt Lake City, say the device, which typically monitors criminals on house arrest or parole, could be a cost-effective solution to a common problem.

“We think it’s just a different application for an existing technology,” Deputy Sheriff Kevin Fielding told the Los Angeles Times. “We run a jail here. We’ve had an electronic monitoring program already in place for years and years. So do the probation and parole people. Why not add to the list of the people the devices are used on?”

The department is seeking public response to the idea, he said, and has signed a contract with a supplier of the devices.

Ankle bracelets, he said, cost $4 a day – about $120 a month – and could significantly reduce the time it takes to find a lost person. That’s where the savings come in, as a search for a missing person can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

The idea isn’t exactly new: Health care and other companies offer tracking devices such as bracelets, necklaces or pocket-size locators for vulnerable individuals.

In a release on its website headlined “Ankle bracelets for the vulnerable,” the Davis County Sheriff’s Office said that many older residents in the county were “fragile and susceptible” and that when they wandered off, “sometimes the outcome is good, other times sadly the outcome is tragic.” The release added that the model being considered by the department uses smaller batteries and would be less obtrusive than those used on criminals.

In the past, searches in northern Utah have required dozens of officers and the use of ATVs, snowmobiles and other equipment.

Six in 10 people with Alzheimer’s wander off at some point, statistics show. In Utah alone, there are 32,000 people with Alzheimer’s and 10,000 more with other forms of dementia.

But not everyone thinks the bracelets are the proper solution.

Beth Kallmyer, vice president of constituent services for the Alzheimer’s Association, told the Associated Press that patients don’t even want to wear location devices that look like bracelets or necklaces because they don’t want to be singled out.

“These are people that have a disease – they are not criminals,” Kallmyer said. “We want to make sure we are protecting their dignity.”