Program promotes safety of Alzheimer's patients
| • | Safe Return registration day |
| • | Tips for care of people with Alzheimer's |
By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Island Editor
More than 100 Alzheimer's patients have been reported missing on O'ahu in the past 19 months, including two who were discovered dead and seven who have not been found.
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Another patient died in a hospital shortly after being found in poor condition.
Masayuki Kubo, a Kapi'olani area resident, has been missing since June 23 when he walked away from his Imperial Plaza condominium.
Those police statistics loom large as authorities search for two more dementia patients — one on O'ahu and one on Moloka'i — and senior-care providers and healthcare advocates prepare for this weekend's Safe Return registration campaign that helps those with the disease who become lost.
Officers from the Honolulu Police Department's Special Services Division will scour Waikiki and the downtown area today to find Masayuki Kubo, 80, who has been missing since June 23 when he walked away from his Imperial Plaza condo on Kapi'olani Boulevard.
Officer Phil Camero of the HPD Missing Persons Detail said police have received numerous tips that Kubo was seen in Chinatown, but "it turned out to be lookalikes." Camero said he requested assistance from Special Services because "it's something we hadn't tried yet and wanted to use."
Yesterday on Moloka'i, a Maui Fire Department helicopter scanned the central area of the island for a second day looking for any sign of Wally Silva, 72, who has not been seen since Saturday evening.
Silva, who suffers from stroke-related dementia that is similar to Alzheimer's, disappeared from his family's beachside home in the Kalama'ula area and is believed to have wandered into nearby mangrove thickets.
Just the week before he went missing, Silva was gone for 12 hours but managed to return home safe, said his daughter, Heli Silva, who moved from Maui to Moloka'i to help care for him.
She said her father has suffered from dementia for three years, and the family was in the process of finding him a place at a care home on Maui.
"It's at the point where we can't handle him already," she said.
Maui Fire Capt. Jules Dudoit at the Kaunakakai Fire Station said the dense mangrove area stretches four or five miles along the coastline from Kaunakakai to Pala'au.
"It's easy to get lost, and it's very tangled. It's hard to see from the air," he said.
Bracelet can help
Neither Silva nor Kubo were registered in the Safe Return program, which uses personalized identification bracelets and pendants that provide a toll-free number for a national computerized database containing information on individual Alzheimer's patients and others suffering from dementia related to stroke, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and other conditions.
In fact, only 547 of the 19,700 Alzheimer's patients in Hawai'i are registered, according to Janet Bender, executive director of the Aloha Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.
Bender has a ready example of why it's a smart idea. An elderly woman with Alzheimer's was found Monday 10 miles from her East Honolulu home. It was the second time she had wandered off in less than a week, but because she was wearing a Safe Return bracelet, the women was quickly identified on both occasions and sent home.
HPD officer Camero agrees Safe Return is worthwhile. He said a man with Alzheimer's who recently was found in the parking lot of a car dealership was identified because of his ID bracelet. He had been missing three days.
"It's practical and helpful," Camero said of the bracelet.
A statewide issue
The problem of wandering Alzheimer's patients is of statewide concern. During the same period the 100 patients went missing on O'ahu, 27 were reported lost in Maui County. One was never found and another was found dead.
All 13 Alzheimer's patients reported missing in the Hilo area during the 19-month period were safely returned home. Figures for the entire Big Island and for Kaua'i were not available.
Officials familiar with the problem believe the numbers are even greater, because many other cases may not be reported to police.
The national Alzheimer's Association reports that six out of 10 people with dementia will wander off or become lost. For most, it will be a repeated occurrence.
"The two earliest and most common symptoms of Alzheimer's — short-term memory loss and problems with orientation — lead directly to wandering behavior and people getting lost," said Dr. Patricia Lanoie Blanchette, professor and chairwoman of the Department of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Hawai'i's John A. Burns School of Medicine.
Although suffering from Alzheimer's, many patients may have social skills that allow them to engage a taxi or catch a bus, particularly if it is a familiar activity.
"They know to get on the bus, but within 10 minutes they forget where they are going," Blanchette said.
Patients often disheveled
One reason missing Alzheimer's patients may not be immediately found, especially in an urban setting like downtown Honolulu or Waikiki, is that they may be mistaken for someone who is inebriated or disturbed, since they may look disheveled or confused.
That's another reason why the Safe Return bracelet or pendant is important, Blanchette said. Someone who sees one, which resembles a medical alert bracelet, may realize the person is in need of help.
Along with registering with the Safe Return program, it also is important to look at what the possible causes for wandering are, Bender said.
"It could be a reaction to medication, physical discomfort, stress, anything that could agitate a person," she said. "It can be too many people or too many activities, poor lighting, new surroundings that completely confuse the person. The caregiver may be speaking too quickly or (the patient's) clothing is too tight or uncomfortable.
"It could be something as simple as that."
Frequently the person is looking for "familiar ground," Bender said, or it could be a desire to fulfill a past obligation, such as child care or a job.
"Especially if they moved to new home or condo, they want to go back and hunt for what they knew before."
To help prevent an Alzheimer's patient from wandering off, Bender advises using door locks that are out of sight or out of reach, child-proof doorknobs, bells above the door, toddler monitors or motion-sensitive devices that sound an alarm when someone passes by.
Safe Return registration day
• What: Safe Return is a nationwide identification, support and registration program that provides help 24 hours a day when a person with Alzheimer's disease becomes lost.
• When: Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Where: The Alzheimer's Association office at Ward Warehouse; Ka'ahumanu Center, Kahului, Maui; KTA Super Stores, 50 E. Puainako St., Hilo. Residents in Kona, Kaua'i, Moloka'i and Lana'i may request registration forms by calling toll-free (877) 43-ALOHA (432-5642).
• Cost: $40 includes ID bracelet or necklace and photo taking. Financial assistance is available.
• information: Call the Alzheimer's Association Aloha Chapter at 591-2771 on O'ahu; 871-5150 on Maui; 959-9151 in Hilo; or toll-free at (877) 43-ALOHA (432-5642).
Tips for care of people with Alzheimer's
Tips to reduce wandering:
• Encourage movement and exercise to reduce anxiety, agitation and restlessness.
• Involve them in productive daily activities, such as folding laundry or preparing dinner.
• Remind them that they are in the right place.
• Reassure them if they feel lost, abandoned or disoriented.
• Enroll them in the Alzheimer's Association's Safe Return Program, a nationwide identification system designed to assist in the safe return of people who become lost when wandering.
• Inform your neighbors of the condition and keep a list of their names and telephone numbers.
• Keep your home safe and secure by installing deadbolt locks on exterior doors and limiting access to potentially dangerous areas.
• Be aware that they may not only wander by foot but also by car or other modes of transportation.
For more information, call the national Alzheimer's Association toll-free at (800) 272-3900; or visit the Web site at www.alz.org. To reach the Aloha Chapter, call 591-2771 or visit the Web site www.alzhi.org. From the Neighbor Islands, call toll-free (877) 43-ALOHA.
Source: Alzheimer's Association
