It’s estimated that between 60 and 70% of people living with Alzheimer’s will wander during the course of their disease. That statistic underscores the importance of the announcement that the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has launched a new website designed to help connect people who may have a tendency to wander with resources to help them live safely in the community – this includes people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
The website is part of a larger Supporting Recovery Programs Persons Who Wander Grant Program, a state-funded initiative designed to help assist local governments or their designees, including law enforcement agencies, and county or municipal designees. It will provide funds to establish recovery programs and provide tools that will help increase the chance that lives of affected individuals will be saved.
“This is an important step in ensuring the safety of at-risk adults,” said Coral Cosway, vice president of Public Policy for the Alzheimer’s Association of Colorado. “People living with dementia may wander from their homes on foot, in a car, on a bike or public transportation. Most don’t go far but, according to statistics, nearly one in three wanderers will perish before they are found.”
Through the Wander Recovery Program, participants will be issued a free wristband transmitter, which they will wear 24 hours a day. Should the individual wander, caregivers will call 911 and the appropriate agency will dispatch specially trained personnel with tracking devices to locate the transmitter.
Typically, most wanderers wearing the transmitter are found within 30 minutes of the start of the search. The transmitters work in all types of weather conditions.
More than 6.5 million people across the United States, including 76,000 Coloradans, are living with Alzheimer’s disease. To learn more about programs and services offered at no charge by the Alzheimer's Association, go to
alz.org or call the free 24/7 Helpline at 800-272-3900.
To learn more about the CBI People Who Wander program, go to
https://cbi.colorado.gov/people-who-wander
The “wanderer recovery program” already existed. The bill that passed last year just enabled more government entities to host a program AND required CBI to establish the website that provides wandering resources and the locations of those programs across the state (i.e., which communities have them since not all do).
This is the title of the grant program. During the development of the website, CBI staff were particularly attached to calling it this, even though it’s not how anyone would explain it to the general public
The bill expanded the grantees from only county law enforcement entities (sheriffs) to any law enforcement entity.
Alzheimer's Association
The Alzheimer's Association leads the way to end Alzheimer's and all other dementia — by accelerating global research, driving risk reduction and early detection, and maximizing quality care and support. Our vision is a world without Alzheimer's and all other dementia.™ For more information, visit www.alz.org or call the 24/7 Helpline at 800.272.3900.