GPS on seniors raises privacy, cost issues

Not all groups that work with seniors agree with an Alberta judge's recommendation to use GPS wrist or ankle devices to track elderly people who might wander at night.

Earlier this month, Provincial Court Judge Ronald Jacobson released his inquiry report into the death of Sydney Salter, 88, in December 2007.

The man, who suffered from dementia, had wandered into the parking lot of the Lethbridge retirement home where he lived and died of hypothermia.

Jacobson suggested that health professionals study the idea of putting tracking devices on "cognitively impaired" patients if they can't be kept in secure facilities at all times.

The Alzheimer Society of Canada has said such an idea raises issues of privacy, as well as cost.

"It's invasive, it's intrusive and it's not ethical.  It's just not right," said Luanne Whitmarsh, chief executive officer of the Kerby Centre, which works with Calgary seniors.

She also worries that the technology would be used as a replacement for care.

"If a person has dementia, yes indeed, they do need these supports. They do need to have safety built around them. They don't need to be GPSed."

More research needed

But others say the idea is worth exploring.

Ralph Hubele's mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease four years ago, and his concern for her welfare is growing.

"It could be that next stage where ... she's going to go off shopping and she'll go out the door and with her purse and her sweater on and it'll be 35 below," he said.

Hubele said he likes the idea of his mother wearing a GPS that will help track her down if she wanders away from her assisted-living facility.

'There would have to be strict, strict regulations on how a GPS would be used for a person and who would have to make that decision.' —Mary Anne Jablonski, Alberta minister of seniors

"When dementia is part of the picture, with it goes unpredictability and progression of disability," said family therapist Maureen Osis.

"I think that when we can augment through technology, we should at least explore it. This isn't a case of we're going to put chips on people and then nobody needs to watch them."

Mary Anne Jablonski, Alberta's minister of seniors and community, said there needs to be more research before the province would consider the idea.

"You may have read the book 1984 where you're being watched by Big Brother and I think that's the kind of idea that some people may have ...  that it's an intrusion of people's personal privacy," she said in an interview with CBC News.

"There would have to be strict, strict regulations on how a GPS would be used for a person and who would have to make that decision."

Jacobson has asked the Alberta government to study his recommendation with findings to be released in the new year.