Has anyone ever purchased a GPS tracking device either for a LO's car and/or person, such as a bracelet? My LO passed the driving tests but we still fear her getting lost. She is early stages of AD.

If anyone does know of a tracking bracelet please post. The only thing I know of is the safe return program....

Bela

Google: "gps tracking watch"

You'll find a lot of watches and some bracelets with GPS tracking systems.

There was a watch developed in France, that is coming to Canada.

Remember, any device that uses GPS will have to be a similar size as a cell phone and have a similar battery life (needing recharge every few days.)

Transmitters and Locating devices to locate wandering people with alzheimers.

The older device I know of is a device that locks on the wrist or ankle. A tracking device triangulates on the device and points to the unit from up to 5 miles away - as I remember. One sheriff dept in our area has the locator unit which costs about $3500. A less expensive locator, for purchase by a nursing home for instance, costs about $1500. Transmitter costs several hundred $ and I was told the batteries cost about $30 per month. I don't know much about these and I'm going by memory, so I might be off a bit. Your local alzheimers association might know if any law enforcement agencies in your area are using the device.

One device is sold by Care Trak. Do a web search to find their web site. Click on the page regarding operation lifesaver, the program that some sheriff depts participate in. There is a list of localities where the program is available (I.E. the sheriff, etc owns a locator device)

Wherify has a bracelet/beeper that can send out its gps signal. You can find its location by logging onto a website. The only model they have so far is one for children aged 4 to 12. It's relatively big and made of bright plastic. $189 plus monthly fees. Since it has been a year since I heard of this device, they may have a smaller or more adult appropriate model by now. (note- werify has stopped making this bracelet device, concentrating on a four button cell phone for kids - also with tracking capability)

ulocate has a similar service that can locate a cellphone.

These are things I saw on a television spot and there may be others out there. Do a web search to find the companies I mentioned.

One problem with these bracelet devices is the agitation they cause for the person to have such a device locked onto their wrist.

There are also devices that sound an alarm if the person walks beyond a certain distance from the monitor, or crosses a boundry (also available from Care Trak)

Added 8/9/2005 from a story on use of technology for dementia patients.-----
Project Lifesaver, which started in 1999 to track wandering Alzheimer's patients using bracelets emitting low-frequency radio signals, costs a couple of thousand dollars for triangulating machines to track signals from the bracelets, which are about $100 each. Law enforcement agencies buy the system and then provide the bracelets to local residents. In Santa Clara County, residents who use Project Lifesaver pay a $10-a-month maintenance fee for the batteries and wristbands. The Lithium battery lasts one month. Check their website to find out if this program is offered in your county.

A california company, Wheels of Zeus, started by Apple Computer co- founder Steve Wozniak, says by "next year" it will have a complete system of GPS (global positioning system) wristwatches and tracking units for Alzheimer's patients for less than $100 each plus a monthly fee of less than $10. The GPS watches, to be sold by WoZ partners such as a watch company, will also monitor heartbeat and send an alert if it changes. But several years later, nothing has come of this.

The smallest GPS/cellular device currently (7/07) avialable is from global tracking group. Note that with the extended life rechargable battery, it works for 36 to 48 hours. It is not available as a braclet.
http://www.globaltrackinggroup.com/index.cfm
http://www.globaltrackinggroup.com/products_ubi4000.cfm

The newest, smallest and most practical GPS braclet device was released in France (2007), and is not yet available in The US. It is the Columba, made and now available in Canada (Medical Intelligence Technologies). There, it costs $300 plus $60 per month. The device is aproximately 1" x 2" x 2 1/2".

The problem with GPS technology is it cannot always get a location signal, especially in a building. They rely on cell phone technology to provide location information to searchers. So any "GPS" device is going to be the size of and have the battery life of a cell phone. It would have to be frequently removed and recharged.

At present, the most practical tracking device for a person with alzheimers remains the Care track/ Project Lifesaver device.

After a story about a gps style device under development in the UK, the alzheimers Store posted the following statement on March 31, 2008
Ageless Design is committed to finding dependable products that address the needs of people with AD and those caring for them, including trackable bracelets. At present, there are two types, GPS systems and those that operate using RFID.

The GPS systems, in our opinion, have not yet been developed to a point where they can be fully relied upon in life-threatening situations - to accurately and quickly locate missing persons with AD. The RFID products seem more dependable, with better battery-lives, battery size, location accuracy, signals and search time records. However, searching for and investigating new products is an ongoing effort.

Thanks Norbet and others for the great information. I will continue to search the internet and this blog.

Our local Police Dept uses the ankle (or) wrist GPS. Only stipulation is that there is a caregiver with LO minimum 12 hours a day who would notice they're gone. Once someone notices they're gone, call is placed to PD & they track the LO thru the bracelet.

There is no cost.

shvill1 I went looking for exactly the same thing and found this chat room in the process of my search I don’t know if you’ve found anything since posting at the end of May but I found this in my search today and will copy and paste the article in full GL :>

Keruve offers GPS device to help track your loved ones
by Natesh Sood on Jul 14, 2008 at 11:32 PM
This new GPS by the Spanish company, Keruve, is a pretty cool one because it basically displays where certain people are located. Basically, you can find out the location of those wearing the special bracelet that it comes with.
The bracelet itself is waterproof and is designed to stay on your wrist, unless you decide to take it off, and that requires the use of a special tool. This is good for those who have Alzheimer’s and your family is trying to look after you, using this bracelet, you can always know where that person is. An alarm even goes off when the battery is low, and the battery life is really good, about three and a half days.
The bracelet transmits the location using the GSM1800 and GSM900 networks to the handheld GPS device. Another cool feature is that the GPS uses something called triangulation which basically allows the GPS to still locate you even if the person is indoors where there aren’t any GPS signals available.
As of now, it is only available in Europe. Even though it is a really good and useful GPS, it will still set you back a pretty penny, as it costs 850 Euros, or a little over $1,350 US.