Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Tracking Bracelets for Autistic Kids and Senior Citizens

Posted by samzenpus on from the wear-them-until-you-learn-your-way-back-home dept.

The Rocky River Police Department in Cuyahoga County, Ohio has started a pilot program to help find missing autistic children and senior citizens with tracking bracelets. For a monthly fee citizens can get a bracelet from the police department, who can then pinpoint the location of their loved one or object of obsession. From the article: "If someone wearing the bracelet goes missing, a family member or caregiver still must alert the Rocky River Police Department. The person reporting the incident or the police department then will contact EMFinders and give the bracelet serial number worn by the missing person, [police chief] Stillman said. While the police department follows its usual protocol for a missing person, EMFinders will send out a signal to the bracelet. In turn, the bracelet sends a signal to the 911 operator through the Cuyahoga Emergency Communications System (CECOMS)."

9 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. good luck with that... by Immostlyharmless · · Score: 2

    Confused older people with screw and fiddle with it until they break it or remove it by any means necessary.

    My credentials? Nurse on a telemetry unit where 90% of my patients are over the age of 70. If they are confused, they'll pull IVs, Central Lines, Foley catheters that are fully inflated...yeah, brilliant idea Ohio, but it ain't gonna work. If someone will pull out a golf ball sized balloon through their penis, a little plastic and fabric bracelet aint gonna stop em.

    1. Re:good luck with that... by beadfulthings · · Score: 2

      Yah. Five anxious years with an increasingly demented parent made this sound attractive at first. Then I remembered how her regular "safe return" bracelet bruised and scratched her increasingly fragile skin (despite being properly fitted) until we had to stop using it. I think their hearts are in the right place, but a bracelet just won't do it.

      --
      "Here's what's happening. You're starting to drive like your Dad..." - Red Green
    2. Re:good luck with that... by geekoid · · Score: 3, Interesting

      nice anecdote. To bad the plural isn't data.

      Also, short sighted. I can make a bracelet that they need special tools to remove.

      Anyways with your issue they are confused and they think they are trapped and want to get out, as opposed to elderly people who just wander off. I would have loved to have this while we where taking care of my grandpa. Too many times I would have to go searching for him. Fortunately most of the time he would just go to the coffee house; where he would leave 100 dollar tip. Interesting note, the waitress where always relieved to return the tip.*

      My credentials? spent a summer learning about dementia from scientists and Drs. SO I could write some specialty predictive software. Of courser that's an argument from authority, and a week reason to assume ones personally gathered anecdotal data has any real merit. It's a common mistake

      *FtR, we would usually leave 20 as a tip.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    3. Re:good luck with that... by Immostlyharmless · · Score: 2

      Trust me, a confused older person can become just as preoccupied with something as an autistic child. I've watched Alzheimer patients adjust their bedding for literally *hours* at a time.

    4. Re:good luck with that... by geekoid · · Score: 2

      that's a good point, about the skin. It needs to be able to be placed into several different form factor. That way you can match it's use to the patients habits. For my Grand Father, a bracelet would be fine. He never had a problem with his watch.
      But on a key ring for the many elderly that are physically fine, so when the wander off, there dressed and 'ready to go', or something that can be put in a purse or wallet, or even a necklace.

      Maybe even surgically attached.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  2. Good luck keeping it on by RedACE7500 · · Score: 2

    I have an autistic brother and there's no way he'd keep this on. Autistics have heightened sensitivity and many couldn't stand wearing a strap around their wrist all day.

  3. Why not just give them a iPhone? by drsmack1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    That works for tracking everyone else.

    --

    Humor from a Genetically Molested Mind

    1. Re:Why not just give them a iPhone? by denis-The-menace · · Score: 2

      http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-05-27/

      AKA: employee locator

      --
      Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
  4. Re:theme park rented "kid trackers" by RollingThunder · · Score: 2

    Two words. Shit happens.

    Even the most well-meaning parent can get overwhelmed in a crowd surge or the kid could decide to tear off suddenly. It's not a substitute for watchful parenting but it can be useful additional tool in the toolkit. It also allows the kid to have a modicum of self-control, since mom and dad don't have to be glued to their hand all day.