Montreal police are conducting a feasibility study into the costs and benefits of providing GPS tracking bracelets to Alzheimer's patients to prevent them from becoming lost.
The study comes less than two weeks after Maria del Carmen Serrano, 73, was found dead near the Hippodrome de Montreal former race track after she wandered off from her Park Extension home days earlier.
Her son, Jesus Serrano, is convinced his mother would still be alive today if she'd had a GPS tracking bracelet. He tried to order one for her a year ago, after she disappeared the first of three times.
"They told me, 'No, in Canada you cannot use that system.' But if it is in Canada, I would love to have had that because with that, I could find my mom in five minutes," he said.
Montreal police expect the results of the study in the new year. If the study recommends bracelets, extensive discussions will follow on which at-risk individuals should be provided the devices, as well as whether the tracking tools would be government funded.
Lorraine Sauve, director of the Alzheimer's Society Suroit, said aside from the GPS tracker, there are strategies for families to improve the safety of those who live with the illness.
"I think it's a good idea, with a bit of reservation. I like the GPS system, (but) I would like it to not replace the love and care of a caregiver, or the supervision of a caregiver," said Sauve.
At the Griffith-McConnell residence in Cote St. Luc, the most serious Alzheimer's patients live in locked wards and have bracelets that trigger locks on doors if those at risk of wandering get too close to them. Officials there say they have reservations about the GPS device.
"My hesitation about the GPS is really around privacy rights. Every individual has the right to privacy and having somebody know where you are at any given moment really destroys that right," said Annette Rudy at the Griffith-McConnell residence.
Still Jesus Serrano said the GPS is the best way to keep those afflicted with the disease safe.
"One hundred per cent they should have that, because I don't want anybody to have this happen, what happened to me," he said.
