GPS Technology Trialled as Dementia Patient Tracking Tool

RobBrady

GPS is best known for being integrated in satellite navigation systems, but the uses for the technology is broadening by the day.

The technology recently hit the headlines after it was incorporated into a bra capable of delivering a 3,800v electric shock to potential assailants following attacks in Delhi.

And now GPS technology is being trialled in Surrey as an innovative tool to track people with dementia should they get lost.

A pioneering Vega watch containing a SIM card has been developed specifically for dementia patients so that they can be easily located by carers or family members using a phone or computer.

As well as allowing relatives and carers to see on an online map where the wearer is at any given time, an alert is triggered from a 24-hour monitoring centre if the patient strays beyond previously defined 'safe' boundaries.

The watch, crafted by Finnish company Everon, also features an emergency button which allows the wearer to alert the centre if necessary, who will then send help out to the location.

Surrey County Council's Melanie Bussicott, who is in charge of the trial, commented: "The council is always willing to embrace innovation and when we heard about a watch that gives people with dementia more independence in their daily lives, we had to give it a trial."

Next month will see a further trial of a flattened, egg-shaped device that can be worn as a pendant or placed in a pocket.

Source

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Robert Brady

spook51 · Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 7:48 am Post subject:

This isn't news, these watches have been around for at least three years. We were going to get one for my Dad in case he lost his way to the shops, must have been summer 2010 when he was still able to walk.

What is news (perhaps) is that councils and care homes have been so slow to make use of them.