To wander means that you move without purpose. You go someplace without foresight, not caring where. Many people wander when their minds are restless. They start walking the streets of their town or city, and before they know it, they have gone miles from home. You can also wander in a casual way, such as when you are window shopping in a city you’re visiting.
However, wandering in those suffering from dementia or other forms of memory loss can be incredibly dangerous. A common symptom of dementia is when someone has an underlying need to go someplace (most often, they aren’t even sure where that place is), so they set off, wandering. As before, when you wander, you can get lost. However, those suffering from memory loss probably did not take a cell phone with them, so they can’t call Uber to pick them up and give them a ride. This is exceedingly bad news if they wander off in the winter or in the extreme heat, as they can die of exposure or heat stroke fairly quickly.
Symtech Solutions offers a wander prevention system that will keep those at risk safe. Since 1982, we’ve been involved in the life safety security industry, providing communication and emergency call systems to our customers, which include regional medical centers, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and local hospitals. Below, we’ll go over the features of our wander prevention system. Contact us today to get started!
WANDER PREVENTION SYSTEMS
Statistics show that six out of ten patients suffering from dementia will wander. When you are a caregiver or a caregiver facility, you are responsible for your patients’ safety. Thus, if a patient wanders and the worst happens, you are liable for their death. While this is devastating to your staff, it can also be financially devastating if the family of the wandering patient were to sue.
Symtech Solutions offers ResidentGuard, which is a wandering management system. Here’s how it works:
- Your patients will wear a custom-fitted monitor that is easy-to-clean and cut-resistant. Using RF technology, your residents have the freedom to roam about your long-term care or assisted living facility.
- If your residents wander outside of the elopement area, you are immediately alerted either by text message, pagers, radios, and more. Thus, your staff can still focus on patient care without having to worry about where your patients are located at every turn.
- Symtech Solutions’ wander management system also alerts you to low battery and has an indicator light to alert if it is working. Furthermore, you can turn these off to save battery as well. Symtech offers 24/7 customer support as well.
There are many benefits to a wandering prevention system:
- Grants families peace of mind. It’s hard choosing a long-term care facility for families, especially when your loved one has dementia or another memory impairment condition. Thus, when your facility adopts a wander prevention system, you will grant your families the peace of mind they need that their loved one will be safe in your care.
- Improves patient care. It’s hard to estimate how much time a staff can spend just worrying about the location of their patients. When you implement a wandering prevention system, your staff will have a lot more time to focus on their care, rather than their whereabouts.
- Allows for resident independence. When you have a wander prevention system in place, your residents can move about freely, without having restricted areas due to the risk of them wandering. This allows for greater quality of life on their end, and again, less worry on your staff’s end.
- Monitors activities. A wandering prevention system allows our staff to know where our residents are so that it’s easier to check up on them and ensure they are safe.
- Prevents emergencies, such as wanderings. If you’ve ever experienced the panic of someone who is lost, it is not fun. There is a rush to find them, and the world stops for all of those involved until they are found.
Oftentimes, the police are involved and a huge search is launched. This will not only draw negative attention to your facility, but it will disrupt everyone’s lives there. Depending on how long the resident was missing, it could take hours to find them — hours of everyone worrying they are found safe.
- Prevents lawsuits. In today’s world, it’s hard to operate any kind of business because you can be sued for anything. A wandering patient who is found dead is not only tragic and devastating, but it could force you to close your doors if you are sued. This is tragic in the sense too that those under your care will have to find new homes as well.
CHOOSE SYMTECH SOLUTIONS FOR ALL YOUR WANDER PREVENTION NEEDS
Symtech Solutions cares about the safety of employees and residents everywhere. Since 1982, we have dedicated our lives to implementing the best life safety systems anywhere. We offer 24/7 support, as well as maintenance solutions. We offer training programs on our systems, as well as the guarantee of stable, reliable, and flexible systems. All of our life safety systems can be customized to meet your needs. Whether you need an infant protection system, wearable panic buttons, wireless emergency call systems, or a dementia wandering prevention system, we can help.