Micro-chip E-tags for dementia sufferers promoted
Pastor Dale Morgan
Micro-chip E-tags for dementia sufferers promoted*
From correspondents in Sydney
January 12, 2008 10:17pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
NEW technology that electronically tags dementia sufferers with
micro-chips to help find them when they get lost has the support of some
welfare groups.
The technology being tested in the UK tags dementia sufferers and tracks
them by satellite to help find them when they wander off.
It could be used in this country, Alzheimer's Australia (AA) has told
Fairfax Newspapers.
Studies have shown that up to 60 per cent of people with dementia in
Australia wander off, while 40 per cent get themselves lost.
"It would be very useful, providing the individual has indicated their
consent in the early stages of the disease," AA's Bill Northcote said.
It would also provide comfort to carers, he said.
The technology also has the support of the Council on the Aging (NSW).
"The technology could offer great benefits for people with dementia and
their carers, but we have to be careful that it's never used as an
alternative for high-quality care or substitute for proper resourcing by
government," the group's executive director Jon Bisset said.
However, Pauline Wright from the NSW Council for Civil Liberties
dismissed electronic tagging as a "gimmicky alternative to expensive,
high-quality dementia care".