University of Waterloo researchers working on app to help locate missing people with dementia

The University of Waterloo says researchers at the school have partnered with community leaders to develop a mobile alert app to help locate missing people with dementia.

Noelannah Neubauer, a postdoctoral fellow at the school, said the project, which has been dubbed Community ASAP, aims to fill a void when it comes to alerts for missing seniors as well as those with dementia in Canada.

“We have Amber Alerts for missing children, but nothing for this population other than the police and civilians who pass information through social networks such as Twitter and Facebook,” Neubauer said.

The school says there is a system in place south of the border called Silver Alert, while other provinces are also working to create a citizen-led alert system.

Neubauer says the volume of people with dementia in Canada makes it impossible to simply send alerts to the Amber alert system.

“The large number of missing persons in this population would mean that alerts would go off multiple times a day in some jurisdictions, which would pose a risk of significant alert fatigue,” Neubauer said.

“The ASAP community gets around this problem by asking people to sign up to receive the alert on Android and iOS operating systems, and choosing the radius from which the missing person was last seen to. at its current location. Most of the missing cases take place within one kilometer of where they were last seen. “

Lili Liu, Dean of Waterloo Faculty of Health, says if missing people are not found within 24 hours, there is a 50% chance that they will be seriously injured or die.

“We offered recommendations for specific community alert systems in Canada, such as Community ASAP, at a national online forum on community alert systems for missing seniors last fall,” a- she declared.

Researchers worked with emergency services and public health officials in Alberta and British Columbia to develop the app, as they tested a variety of iterations, working to make something both functional. and precise.

Further in Guelph, police also launched another initiative last year to try to help locate lost people with Alzheimer’s disease, autism or other forms of cognitive impairment.

Project Lifesaver uses wristbands with an FM radio frequency to find missing people, and it also works in buildings and nature.

Guelph Police say they have a 100 percent success rate, finding people with 30 minutes, 95 percent of the time.

There is a start-up fee as well as a maintenance fee to join Project Lifesaver.