L.A. County Launches Tracking Program to Find People With Dementia and Others Who Wander

Los Angeles County officials this week launched a program to help locate people with autism, Alzheimer's, or dementia who may go missing, reports the Los Angeles Times . The L.A. Found program employs bracelets that can be tracked by sheriff's deputies via radio frequency. The program also establishes a new office for coordinating a countywide response when somebody wanders off. A relative or caregiver of an individual with a cognitive impairment can apply for a bracelet through L.A. Found. Once approved, they can buy a $325 bracelet from the nonprofit organization Project Lifesaver. The bracelet emits a silent electronic tone to a receiver that can pick up the signal within one mile on the ground, or within two to five miles from helicopter, and lead searchers to within inches of the device. "This technology literally enables lost loved ones to communicate their location to us," says L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell. The Alzheimer's Association estimates that 60 percent of people with dementia will wander off at some point, with traffic and the potential for drowning posing serious hazards.