Each year, approximately 125,000 seniors in Ontario living with dementia are at risk of wandering and going missing.
Today the province says it is providing nearly $600,000 to the Alzheimer Society of Ontario to deliver the Finding Your Way program.
It helps people living with dementia, their families, caregivers and communities to recognize the risk of going missing, be prepared for incidents of going missing, and ensure that people with dementia can live safely in the community.
“This funding will go a long way in helping to keep seniors living in Nipissing safe, especially given an estimated 240,000 seniors in Ontario are living with dementia,” said Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli in a news release.
This new funding will help to locate missing seniors living with dementia by working with police to promote Finding Your Way program resources in their communities, and by delivering seminars for individuals, caregivers and frontline officers that educate and promote awareness.
“Every minute counts when a senior goes missing to help keep them safe. Our government is committed to helping seniors with dementia stay safe in Nipissing,” said Fedeli. “We are protecting what matters most to help seniors live independently in their communities.”
About 60 per cent of people living with dementia will go missing at some point, often without warning and half 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.
