Ontario Helping to Keep Living with Dementia Safe

Dec 16, 2019

Dufferin-Caledon: MPP Sylvia Jones is pleased to announce that Ontario is helping families, caregivers and communities recognize the risks of dementia, be prepared for incidents, and better ensure that seniors can live safely.

Each year, approximately 125,000 seniors in Ontario living with dementia are at risk of wandering and going missing. The province is putting their safety first by providing nearly $600,000 to the Alzheimer Society of Ontario to deliver the Finding Your Way program.

“I am pleased that the funding given to the Alzheimer Society of Dufferin County is being used to help keep seniors safe,” said Jones. “We have a great community support network between the Alzheimer Society and first responders and organizations who may encounter vulnerable seniors. The programs and resources available ensure that there is help for seniors in their home and in our community.”

“This funding will go a long way in helping seniors, especially given an estimated 240,000 seniors in Ontario are living with dementia,” said Raymond Cho, Minister for Seniors and Accessibility. “This is another example of how our government is putting seniors and their families first by making it easier to find our missing loved ones faster.”

Finding Your Way is a multicultural wandering prevention program which provides practical tools and advice for individuals, caregivers and the community to recognize and reduce the risk of someone with dementia wandering and going missing, while supporting a quick, safe return should an incident occur.

The Alzheimer Society in Dufferin is receiving $5000.00 to work with individuals and organizations in our community who need to be aware of the risks to seniors living with dementia. As well as helping identify vulnerable seniors, the Alzheimer Society provides resources and delivers seminars for individuals, caregivers, support workers, frontline officers and paramedics.

 “The Finding Your Way funding Alzheimer Dufferin has received from the Province of Ontario, has enabled our team to further educate our local stakeholders on how to support persons with dementia who are lost in our community, “ said Lindsay Butcher, Executive Director of Alzheimer Society of Dufferin County.  “Finding Your Way also helps to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia’s, how to become familiarized with the signs of someone suffering from the disease and how to navigate them through those difficult situations.”

If you have a loved one or know about a neighbour who might be at risk for wandering and would like to know more about this program, contact the Alzheimer Society of Dufferin County at:

519-941-1221 ext.104 | awareness@alzheimerdufferin.org | http://www.alzheimer.ca/dufferincounty.

 More information about the Finding Your Way program can also be found online at:

http://findingyourwayontario.ca/

 QUICK FACTS

  • About sixty per cent of people living with dementia will go missing at some point, often without warning.
  • Fifty per cent of people who go missing for 24 hours risk serious injury or death from exposure, hypothermia or drowning.
  • Nearly 7,500 people were reported missing in Ontario in 2018.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

More Tools Available for Police to Find Missing Seniors

Supporting seniors and their families: 2019 Ontario Budget Finding Your Way