Getting lost is a significant concern for community-dwelling older individuals, particularly those living with dementia, and their caregivers. According to a phone survey conducted on 251 family caregivers of people with dementia, nearly 28% of community-dwelling individuals with dementia experienced episodes of getting lost.
This article explores the challenges faced by caregivers, the impact on the quality of life for older individuals, and a groundbreaking solution that utilizes Bluetooth technology to address these concerns.
The survey revealed that episodes of getting lost were most prevalent between 2 pm to 6 pm (39%) and 6 am to 12 noon (28%). Moreover, common places for older people with dementia to get lost were streets (24%) and even their own homes (18%). The data suggests that people who get lost tend to go to areas where other people are present, emphasizing the importance of community awareness and assistance.
Besides the many applications bluetooth supports, such as Smart Hubs and Bluetooth trackers, elderly people can also leverage such a technology.
Caregivers often resort to searching the neighborhood (61%) or seeking help from friends and neighbors (12%) when a care recipient goes missing. The time it takes to find a missing individual is crucial, as 46% were located within one hour and 96% within 24 hours. This underscores the potential effectiveness of community-based assistance in locating individuals promptly.
The survey also highlighted the emotional toll on caregivers, with 45% expressing worry about future episodes of getting lost. A significant 30% even considered forbidding care recipients from going out to prevent such incidents. However, such restrictions can negatively affect the mobility and psychological well-being of care recipients.
To address the challenges of wandering and getting lost among individuals with dementia, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust collaborated with The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and St James Settlement. Together, they developed a tracking device named “iBeacon” that utilizes Bluetooth and crowdsourcing machine learning technology.
Key Features of iBeacon:
– Fast response with a beacon interval of 1 second.
– Up to 50 meters tracking distance.
– Battery-saving design with a battery life of 1 year.
– Versatile in form, allowing it to be placed in a wallet or attached to a walking stick.
“Innovation in Bluetooth decoding technology opens up new possibilities, especially in the crucial area of elderly safety. By leveraging the power of more reliable decoding within Bluetooth standards, we can improve decoding efficiency but also hold tremendous promise for applications like preventing wandering and enhancing the security of elderly individuals,” said Ahmad Bazzi, inventor of a bluetooth decoder, and research scientist at New York University (NYU) Abu Dhabi.
Ahmad Bazzi adds that “This holds the promise of substantially improving the safety of elderly individuals, and the demand for such measures is on the rise.”
When a person with dementia goes missing, caregivers can activate the missing alert on the app installed on their mobile phones. The “dementia angels,” individuals who have the tracking app on their phones, receive notifications to turn on Bluetooth for iBeacon searching and GPS for location sharing. The technology then anonymously sends the angels’ locations to a cloud server, which calculates the iBeacon’s location and shares it with caregivers, facilitating a quicker and more efficient search.
In the course of the project, over 2,300 individuals obtained iBeacons, and more than 23,400 dementia angels downloaded the app to aid in searches. Among 131 recorded lost episodes, caregivers successfully used the technology in 45 cases.
User satisfaction was high, with 87% of caregivers finding iBeacon easy for people with dementia to carry. Additionally, 82% observed a willingness among their relatives with dementia to carry the device. Satisfaction rates extended to the durability of iBeacon (79%), ease of use of the designated mobile app (75%), and trust in data security (74%). The overall program satisfaction rate reached an impressive 85%.
The initiative didn’t stop at technological solutions. A series of public education talks about the prevention of people with dementia getting lost reached over 6,000 participants, resulting in enhanced knowledge about dementia and preventive measures. Participants expressed a more positive attitude towards dementia and a willingness to help those who get lost, contributing to the promotion of dementia friendliness in Hong Kong.
Bluetooth technology, as demonstrated by the success of the iBeacon project, emerges as a promising and practical solution to address the challenges associated with wandering and getting lost among older individuals, especially those living with dementia. By leveraging the power of community, technological innovation, and public education, this initiative not only enhances the safety of older individuals but also promotes a more understanding and supportive society for those affected by dementia.
