Similar to the Amber Alert, declared when a child is abducted, a Silver Alert is circulated when a person 60 or older who suffers from dementia or another cognitive impairment like Alzheimer’s disease goes missing. About a dozen other states, including neighboring Georgia, have adopted similar programs, and legislation creating a national program is pending in Congress. In Florida, where the elderly are so large a share of the population and, according to state government estimates, account for half a million cases of Alzheimer’s, the Silver Alert has had an immediate impact, officials say. Indeed, all of the 19 people for whom the state has issued bulletins since adopting its program in November have been found, said E. Douglas Beach, Florida’s secretary of elder affairs. One feature of the Florida program sends an automated phone call to every residence within a one-mile radius of the missing person’s home, providing pertinent information like a physical description and the vehicle being driven, if any.
Please click on the link below to read the complete New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/us/18silver.html?_r=2&ref=health
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