This one isn’t about sunshine or wildlife.
But it might help someone close to you enjoy both for longer !
I have a bit of experience in finding people using ‘digital means’. I used to work for a small bit of a very big organisation that did ‘this sort of stuff’. I still keep my hand in.
The other night i wandered the streets of Sheffield helping look for someone that wasn’t called Linda.
When i was a bairn in the North-East i used to walk miles round the streets every night (avoiding being at ‘home’). I formed a superb knowledge of the streets, alleyways and fields of my youth. Forty something years later i still wander around outside most nights of the year, but 99.9% of that is in a rural or moorland setting. Rarely in a town or city.
As i wandered round i made a few notes in my head on what i thought the easiest way of finding an elderly relative might be using commonly available and reasonably affordable technology.
These are the notes and they feature a hypothetical elderly person called Linda who hypothetically has a recent diagnosis for Early Onset Dementia. (EOD).
70% of people with dementia will go missing at least once.
Every year, at least 40,000+ people living with dementia are reported missing for the first time
1.
We age quicker as we age. Try and take a facial photo of Linda twice a year. If Linda goes from a brown bob to a purple rinse (or Larry shaves all his hair off) take a photo. If all else fails take a facial photo every Xmas. You can take hats off and lose coats but its hard to change your face. Have a look in your phone now for how old your last facial photo of Linda is!!
2.
Make a mental note of who on the street or village or local shops near Linda has CCTV or Ring doorbell cameras. Note also which of these local shops are open of an evening or night.
3.
Fit a ‘ring doorbell’ type camera to the house Linda lives in. Ideally a camera with a motion detect and record function. Most cameras look ‘out’ from the property (viewing visitors on the way to your door). See of you can position one that captures a person passing the camera so you get front and back views. Link that camera to a few phones of responsible adults. Make the effort to look at it when it pings.
4.
Register Linda with the Herbert Protocol scheme (South Yorkshire Police or your local constabulary might offer this on their website – if you do it via the police you don’t have to also subscribe to MedicAlert).
It’s worth if possible filling the HP form in with ‘Linda’ present rather than guessing the answers!!
Keep a copy of the form safe on your phone as (possibly years later) one of the answers on it may be the important jigsaw piece and you will probably start looking for Linda before police resources have been assigned to the search.
Then apply for the NFC / meditag that the HP scheme offers (this stores the key data off the form on to the tag and can be read by the emergency services). Think of it (in a nice way) as the same as the chip on your dog or cat.
5.
The ‘issue’ with NFC tags is you need to have found Linda in order to read the tag.
The ideal solution is one of a variety of bluetooth based trackers (you’ve probably heard otf AirTags™️ or Tile™️). Putting one of these in the clothing or bag with Linda’s knowledge and understanding is the perfect solution. Putting one of these in the clothing or bag of Linda with her knowledge and understanding even without a diagnosis for EOD is a more perfect solution. Sell it as ‘the AA’ for lovely old people. Sell it as Every Day Carry for golden oldies. Do your best to normalise the carriage of a reliable tracker long before you wish you had asked Linda to carry one!!
There is a sub issue here that many people diagnosed with EOD are vehemently against any form of tagging – they see it as intrusive – ergo you may need to be ‘creative’ how and where the tags are placed.
Oh, and practice tracking the tracker. And share access to it (in case you’re at a Belinda Carlisle gig in Bridlington when Linda goes off to the house three towns away where her third boyfriend – the one with the lovely red MG – used to live (in 1947)).
How It Works …
In theory, and i accept there are a lot of variables herein but the process goes something like this …
It’s Thursday. Linda sets off at 10am to Yoga-for-the-over-80s at the Church Hall (a 3 minute easy walk from home). She is pinged on the camera leaving home. You glance at the phone ping – expecting her to be going there at this time – and all is well.
Linda doesn’t ping the door camera on her return which should be 90 mins ish after she left.
You don’t notice straight away as you’re in a meeting at work on phone silent.
When you do realise its gone 1pm. You open ‘Find My’ on your phone and ‘👵Linda’ pings as somewhere near the duck pond 40 mins further away from the Church Hall in the ‘wrong’ direction in the next village.
Linda doesn’t carry a phone.
You ask your Boss for an emergency early knock off and set off in the car. On hands free you dial 101 and explain the issue to the police and that you’re an hour away by car and could an officer please go and make sure Linda is okay. The police ask some details and they pull up the full Herbert Protocol file including a recent photo. You describe what she was wearing when you saw her on camera leave home earlier.
A PCSO finds a person matching the description of Linda sat by the duckpond chatting away quite happily to a person called Frederick. Frederick isn’t actually there.
The officer scans the bright yellow Herbert Protocol NFC tag tied to Linda’s bag and it matches the HP record. That officer then rings you to confirm they have found Linda and all is well.
You park 400m away from the duckpond and navigate to Linda via the Find My app for the AirTag on the inside pocket of her coat.
You thank the police officer profusely and take Linda home. In the car on the way home Linda describes in detail her day out with Frederick and that he’s promised to pick her up next Thursday ….
The End.
P.S. the elderly lady from the actual search on Tuesday evening was found (safe) several miles from home having made her way in to the city centre in thick fog and rain. It was a passing conversation in a kebab shop 6 or so hours later that prompted the shop owner there to scroll through the cctv camera app on his phone and very quickly provide a positive ID and starting point for the police showing the lady on a particular street at a particular time wearing a distinctive hat (that she was earlier seen on a Ring doorbell camera leaving home wearing). There then followed a ‘game’ of follow the bobble hat ….