Dementia groups urge action amid surging incidentsBy Cheng Ming-hsiang and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerDementia advocacy groups yesterday urged the government and the public to take action against the rising number of incidents of people with dementia going missing, citing Taipei City Government statistics showing 179 incidents last year. Fang urged people with relatives with dementia to outfit them with tracker bracelets and install devices that prevent them from leaving home unaccompanied. There are about 8,700 people with dementia in Taipei, but the Taipei Department of Health has only received 1,751 applications for tracker bracelets, or a 20 percent uptake, the department said. Taiwan Alzheimer Disease Association secretary-general Tang Li-yu (湯麗玉) said that the families of people with dementia should adopt multiple measures, including updating the family member’s ID card with a recent photograph. Federation for the Welfare of the Elderly secretary-general Chang Shu-ching (張淑卿) said that tracker bracelets have over the past few years become safer and more fashionable.

Source: Taipei Times March 12, 2021 15:56 UTC