Ontario Helping to Keep Seniors With Dementia in Nipissing Safe
September 18, 2019NORTH BAY— Ontario is helping families, caregivers and communities recognize the risks of dementia, be prepared for incidents, and better ensure that seniors can live safely in Nipissing.
Each year, approximately 125,000 seniors in Ontario living with dementia are at risk of wandering and going missing. The province is putting their safety first by providing nearly $600,000 to the Alzheimer Society of Ontario to deliver the Finding Your Way program.
“This funding will go a long way in helping to keep seniors living in Nipissing safe, especially given an estimated 240,000 seniors in Ontario are living with dementia,” said Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli. “This is another example of how our government is putting seniors and their families first by making it easier to find our missing loved ones faster.”
Finding Your Way is a multicultural wandering prevention program which provides practical tools and advice for individuals, caregivers and the community to recognize and reduce the risk of someone with dementia wandering and going missing, while supporting a quick, safe return should an incident occur.
This new funding will help to locate missing seniors living with dementia by working with police to promote Finding Your Way program resources in their communities, and by delivering seminars for individuals, caregivers and frontline officers that educate and promote awareness.
“Every minute counts when a senior goes missing to help keep them safe. Our government is committed to helping seniors with dementia stay safe in Nipissing,” said Fedeli. “We are protecting what matters most to help seniors live independently in their communities.”
QUICK FACTS
- About 60 per cent of people living with dementia will go missing at some point, often without warning.
- Half of people who go missing for 24 hours risk serious injury or death from exposure, hypothermia or drowning.
- Nearly 7,500 people were reported missing in Ontario in 2018.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
More Tools Available for Police to Find Missing Seniors
Supporting seniors and their families: 2019 Ontario Budget