FIL - Dementia & Electronic Tracking
Discussion
Hi all,
Father in law has dementia, and the mother in law has been shielding us from how bad he actually is.
He's not been very well due to Kidney issues recently and the other half and her sister have been staying at the parents house and now got a proper insight into how he is daily, and it's not good.
We have various professionals helping with the health side of it, carers etc but we now have a real worry of him just strolling out of the house when his wife is in the shower or something and him forgetting where he is and just roaming the streets.
We don't want to lock the door as he is a heavy set guy and just gets frustrated/angry if things don't go how he wants, so he would just end up breaking it, as well as the fire implications.
We are looking for some kind of GPS tracking watch/bracelet - don't mind how much it costs or any subscriptions as long as it suits the situation - they are both elderly so whatever solution we find must be easy to charge and carry (worn preferably)
I had thought apple airtags as they rely on the apple network and connect via bluetooth so really low powered, but not sure how reliable they are as they need another iphone user to be 'near' in order for it to jump on to the device.
Any suggestions please?
Father in law has dementia, and the mother in law has been shielding us from how bad he actually is.
He's not been very well due to Kidney issues recently and the other half and her sister have been staying at the parents house and now got a proper insight into how he is daily, and it's not good.
We have various professionals helping with the health side of it, carers etc but we now have a real worry of him just strolling out of the house when his wife is in the shower or something and him forgetting where he is and just roaming the streets.
We don't want to lock the door as he is a heavy set guy and just gets frustrated/angry if things don't go how he wants, so he would just end up breaking it, as well as the fire implications.
We are looking for some kind of GPS tracking watch/bracelet - don't mind how much it costs or any subscriptions as long as it suits the situation - they are both elderly so whatever solution we find must be easy to charge and carry (worn preferably)
I had thought apple airtags as they rely on the apple network and connect via bluetooth so really low powered, but not sure how reliable they are as they need another iphone user to be 'near' in order for it to jump on to the device.
Any suggestions please?
Well i've ordered an air-tag to trial, we already have about 8 of those tracking tiles for our keys, bag, wallet etc so may well end up replacing them with the apple tags anyway.
Will be interesting to see how widespread the find-my network actually is. Will report back just in case others are considering the same.
Will be interesting to see how widespread the find-my network actually is. Will report back just in case others are considering the same.
Get one of those tags that has a SIM data. We bought one of these https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/smart-tech and from memory at the time was c£45 then £3 a month. Used it for the FIL when he wouold go wandering. Live track on your phone, set zone alarms if he goes out of area. had to use it in real time to trace him a couple of times. Found him no problem the mapping and minimal update lag worked really well. Has a long charge with remote charge state through the App.
Money well spent. Cancelled no issue after he went into a home
ETA: Vodafone now have them on offer at £14.99
Money well spent. Cancelled no issue after he went into a home
ETA: Vodafone now have them on offer at £14.99
We had exactly this issue with my Step father. My older brother bought two small tracker tile type things, not sure what make but we needed them 3 or 4 times before he eventually went into a home. Very useful and we discovered him once in his old village about 15 miles from where him and Mum lived. Not bad for an 88 year old at the time. He even climbed out though the kitchen window on one occasion to "escape".
Interesting and something I may have to resort to at some point, FIL is starting to get a bit "wandery".
How do you make sure he's going to have the tag on him? If someone with Dementia is going to go for a stroll, they are likely to forget their coat, phone etc. Put it on a necklace, or glue it to the watch strap or something?
How do you make sure he's going to have the tag on him? If someone with Dementia is going to go for a stroll, they are likely to forget their coat, phone etc. Put it on a necklace, or glue it to the watch strap or something?
SteveStrange said:
Interesting and something I may have to resort to at some point, FIL is starting to get a bit "wandery".
How do you make sure he's going to have the tag on him? If someone with Dementia is going to go for a stroll, they are likely to forget their coat, phone etc. Put it on a necklace, or glue it to the watch strap or something?
Mum used to slip one in his pocket each morning and leave one in his favourite jacket....How do you make sure he's going to have the tag on him? If someone with Dementia is going to go for a stroll, they are likely to forget their coat, phone etc. Put it on a necklace, or glue it to the watch strap or something?
Back in the early 2005 I developed a watch for tracking due to my father, it used a sim and gave the position via 2G every few minutes, this allowed constant tracking. it also alerted if the unit was removed, person breached a safe zone, and could act as a phone (no need to pair). The reason was my father was a wanderer, gave aus a few real scares, including one where he was missing all day till early the next morning when he was found by the police.
I would suggest if he carries keys, look for something that fits on the keyring and ensure it does work stand-alone. Over the years we sold many, but more importantly saved many lives. The later version we used with my wifes father, he may have been in a 'secure nursing home' but once piled up the outside furniture to get over a 6ft fence, and could run. The watch was fitted after he was found almost 7 miles away. Some days we would 'drive past' picking him up when he was 'going for a walk' upto 6 times a day. Our usual response time was for finding someone was 3 minutes, with a location accuracy of 20M.
Ensure anything has the ability to work alone, and that you can ensure immediate polling and responding to your commands. Also now days you should be able to use both GPS and base station tracking (far less accurate) . we sold them here in OZ & NZ, however that was a few businesses ago.
As for those who said it was an invasion of privacy, it allowed him many further happy years where he was safe.
I would suggest if he carries keys, look for something that fits on the keyring and ensure it does work stand-alone. Over the years we sold many, but more importantly saved many lives. The later version we used with my wifes father, he may have been in a 'secure nursing home' but once piled up the outside furniture to get over a 6ft fence, and could run. The watch was fitted after he was found almost 7 miles away. Some days we would 'drive past' picking him up when he was 'going for a walk' upto 6 times a day. Our usual response time was for finding someone was 3 minutes, with a location accuracy of 20M.
Ensure anything has the ability to work alone, and that you can ensure immediate polling and responding to your commands. Also now days you should be able to use both GPS and base station tracking (far less accurate) . we sold them here in OZ & NZ, however that was a few businesses ago.
As for those who said it was an invasion of privacy, it allowed him many further happy years where he was safe.
I’ve found an iPhone with tracking on and an air tag on my dad’s keys has really helped me lately, especially when he gets lost with the real time function.
Obviously he needs to have taken his phone which he is still doing but the air tags have helped in determining when the phone and keys are not together and where each may be pointing to an episode happening!
Obviously he needs to have taken his phone which he is still doing but the air tags have helped in determining when the phone and keys are not together and where each may be pointing to an episode happening!
I saw this in the news earlier today, have a read and maybe get in touch with them so see if you can buy in somehow?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-6109...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-6109...
OP I work in the telecare industry and I know of a new wrist worn product (has a 4g sim built in to it) that can track the wears location via a web portal, has fall detection along with a host of other things that you can buy outright. Beaware a lot of services you rent the device and pay monthly when the devices are usually cost under £200.
Drop me a DM if you want pointing in the right direction for more info.
Drop me a DM if you want pointing in the right direction for more info.
We had to look at this kind of thing a few years back. Problem was , my father was not of the generation where he would always carry a mobile phone with him. Even if we did persuade him , he would turn it off and say "I`ll switch it on if I need it" !!!
The watches and fobs were ridiculously big and we never did solve it sadly but fate had a hand in that.
I suppose ,to the OP. If he is happy to carry a phone around , your sorted as there are many options around tracking a phone. If he doesn't do phones but like to carry a set of keys then any of the fobs mentioned would be good.
The watches and fobs were ridiculously big and we never did solve it sadly but fate had a hand in that.
I suppose ,to the OP. If he is happy to carry a phone around , your sorted as there are many options around tracking a phone. If he doesn't do phones but like to carry a set of keys then any of the fobs mentioned would be good.
clumsen said:
OP I work in the telecare industry and I know of a new wrist worn product (has a 4g sim built in to it) that can track the wears location via a web portal, has fall detection along with a host of other things that you can buy outright. Beaware a lot of services you rent the device and pay monthly when the devices are usually cost under £200.
Drop me a DM if you want pointing in the right direction for more info.
I will do, thank you.Drop me a DM if you want pointing in the right direction for more info.
Far Cough said:
We had to look at this kind of thing a few years back. Problem was , my father was not of the generation where he would always carry a mobile phone with him. Even if we did persuade him , he would turn it off and say "I`ll switch it on if I need it" !!!
The watches and fobs were ridiculously big and we never did solve it sadly but fate had a hand in that.
I suppose ,to the OP. If he is happy to carry a phone around , your sorted as there are many options around tracking a phone. If he doesn't do phones but like to carry a set of keys then any of the fobs mentioned would be good.
A watch would be better as the MIL can make sure he puts it on first thing in the morning and then should be with him the whole day - anything else like keys/fobs and phones may well get forgotten.The watches and fobs were ridiculously big and we never did solve it sadly but fate had a hand in that.
I suppose ,to the OP. If he is happy to carry a phone around , your sorted as there are many options around tracking a phone. If he doesn't do phones but like to carry a set of keys then any of the fobs mentioned would be good.
Short of stitching airtags into every item of clothing he might want to wear (or in the shoes) i think a watch style device would work best.
It hasn't happened so far, thank god, but he's doing things which are increasingly weird, like ripping all the plugs out of the sky box and tv because he can't get it to turn off, and is then surprised the next day when it doesn't come on when he pushes the remote.
he is very independent and belligerent when he can't get his own way (the own way sometimes is the wrong way, but he can't see it) so we can all see him just getting up and going out either thinking he has somewhere to be, or just fancies it.
Pixelpeep 135 said:
A watch would be better as the MIL can make sure he puts it on first thing in the morning and then should be with him the whole day - anything else like keys/fobs and phones may well get forgotten.
Short of stitching airtags into every item of clothing he might want to wear (or in the shoes) i think a watch style device would work best.
It hasn't happened so far, thank god, but he's doing things which are increasingly weird, like ripping all the plugs out of the sky box and tv because he can't get it to turn off, and is then surprised the next day when it doesn't come on when he pushes the remote.
he is very independent and belligerent when he can't get his own way (the own way sometimes is the wrong way, but he can't see it) so we can all see him just getting up and going out either thinking he has somewhere to be, or just fancies it.
If you have a current or previous gen or two Apple Watch you can now use a relatively new family mode. You add an e-sim to the watch (£79 a year) and link in to your iphone. You’ll get full tracking, fall detection, health tracking etc. Short of stitching airtags into every item of clothing he might want to wear (or in the shoes) i think a watch style device would work best.
It hasn't happened so far, thank god, but he's doing things which are increasingly weird, like ripping all the plugs out of the sky box and tv because he can't get it to turn off, and is then surprised the next day when it doesn't come on when he pushes the remote.
he is very independent and belligerent when he can't get his own way (the own way sometimes is the wrong way, but he can't see it) so we can all see him just getting up and going out either thinking he has somewhere to be, or just fancies it.
Pixelpeep 135 said:
A watch would be better as the MIL can make sure he puts it on first thing in the morning and then should be with him the whole day - anything else like keys/fobs and phones may well get forgotten.
Short of stitching airtags into every item of clothing he might want to wear (or in the shoes) i think a watch style device would work best.
It hasn't happened so far, thank god, but he's doing things which are increasingly weird, like ripping all the plugs out of the sky box and tv because he can't get it to turn off, and is then surprised the next day when it doesn't come on when he pushes the remote.
he is very independent and belligerent when he can't get his own way (the own way sometimes is the wrong way, but he can't see it) so we can all see him just getting up and going out either thinking he has somewhere to be, or just fancies it.
Been there done that with the plugs. He used to switch everything off at the plug as that was the old fashioned way to do it and he didnt like the little red LED to be left on. Of course then the box would not record anything it was supposed to and the TV lost all its settings, shortly followed by a row between the 2 of them and all hell breaking loose !!!!Short of stitching airtags into every item of clothing he might want to wear (or in the shoes) i think a watch style device would work best.
It hasn't happened so far, thank god, but he's doing things which are increasingly weird, like ripping all the plugs out of the sky box and tv because he can't get it to turn off, and is then surprised the next day when it doesn't come on when he pushes the remote.
he is very independent and belligerent when he can't get his own way (the own way sometimes is the wrong way, but he can't see it) so we can all see him just getting up and going out either thinking he has somewhere to be, or just fancies it.
The guy above who knows of a wrist worn gadget sounds interesting. Obviously I dont know what it looks like but the watch thing we were going to spin as a present , so he would feel obliged to wear it. Whether it works or not is irrelevant if it has been left on the dresser !! ???
Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff