Lifeline aids
Alzheimer’s
patients

Safe Return helps find
loved ones who are apt to
wander off and
become disoriented

---

By Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com

As Hawaii's population grows older, more seniors are expected to suffer Alzheimer's disease and memory loss and wander away from home.

"We are finding more and more cases where the elderly are wandering off," said officer Phil Camero, investigator in the Honolulu Police Department's Missing Persons Detail.

Camero is among those looking for Masayuki Kubo, an 80-year-old Alzheimer's patient missing since June 23.

Kubo was not registered in the Alzheimer's Association's Safe Return program, which provides personalized bracelets for Alzheimer's patients and other identification materials. As of the end of June, 487 island residents were registered, according to the association.

Contact information is stored in a national computerized database, and the program's nationwide, toll-free 800 number is listed on the bracelet. It is linked to 17,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide.

Kubo had wandered off twice before in the past couple of months but was found within eight hours by neighbors and friends, said Martha Directo, social worker for the Alzheimer's Association's Aloha Chapter.

This was the first time the police were involved, and the family was in touch with the association, she said.

An estimated 19,700 Hawaii residents have Alzheimer's disease, according to the chapter.

Family members are encouraged to call the association "even if they suspect even the slightest memory loss" in a loved one, Directo said. They are urged to register the person with the disease in the Safe Return program.

To help facilitate that, the Aloha Chapter is sponsoring a Safe Return Registration Day on July 28 throughout the state.

Up to 70 percent of the nation's 4 million people with Alzheimer's will wander off at some point, often leaving home and unable to find their way back, the chapter points out.

Janet Bender, Aloha Chapter executive director, said: "Safe Return enables police, community service agencies and private citizens to identify people with Alzheimer's disease and help them return home.

"They may be searching for someone or something familiar, such as where they used to live or work. They may need something, such as food, water, a bathroom or companionship and can't communicate about it, so they set out to find it. They may be restless or afraid."

They become confused and unable to ask for help, she said. They become lost and at risk from weather, traffic and predators.

Some have walked or traveled miles, while others go only a short distance from home.

Kubo, who lives in a condominium unit on Kapiolani Boulevard, told his wife he was going for a walk, and he never returned.

He was wearing blue jeans, a white shirt and white tennis shoes when last seen. He had a bus pass, about $10 in cash and a state identification card, Directo said.

She said Camero has distributed Kubo's pictures all over and spread the word at the airports and other places, with no concrete results.

Anyone who has information about Kubo is asked to call HPD's Missing Persons Detail at 529-3115 or 529-3395.

"You'd be surprised how many people fit his description," said Camero. "Many elderly persons who are health-conscious are walking about. I was searching downtown the other day (for Kubo) and approached a man who looked like him, and he said I was the third person who approached him."

Camero said the Safe Return program is "very worthwhile. ... As I recall, in the beginning of the year, we did have a gentleman who was missing, an Alzheimer's patient in his 70s, and as a result of that bracelet, he was located. He had been missing approximately three days."

Because it is a nationwide registry, a family taking a vacation with an Alzheimer's patient can get help from local authorities if the person wanders, Directo said.

"A lot of local people like to go to Las Vegas. We had a case in Vegas. Fortunately, the person was enrolled in Safe Return and was able to be found."

Directo said some people with Alzheimer's may not be registered in the program because families are not aware of it. Or the person with dementia does not want to wear the bracelet, she said, "so the family figures, what's the point?

"Or they think, 'My mom or dad is not at that point yet, they never leave the house,' so they don't see the need for it."

However, it is a good precautionary measure, she said.

Besides the Safe Return program, the chapter can offer caregivers information and techniques to prevent or reduce the likelihood of wandering.

It also has programs and services for Alzheimer's families and the public, including a 24-hour Helpline, free home and office visits, neighborhood support groups, education and training programs, a lending library and monthly newsletter.

The Alzheimer's Association is the only national voluntary health organization dedicated to overcoming Alzheimer's disease through research and providing education and support services to patients, families and caregivers.