Getting lost isn’t just inconvenient when someone has certain medical conditions. It can be life-threatening. There are many people in the world who think of GPS for the elderly as being for dementia but the reality is quite complex. There are many medical conditions that can have a profound impact on a person’s ability to navigate. A family doesn’t feel threatened until someone goes missing.
It’s not easy for any family to track location. It’s not considered acceptable among them. They ask for their dignity and freedom so that they can grow and live independently. They don’t want to monitor their ancestors. But when the impact on health is greater, losing someone is more painful than tracking technology.
Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Forms of Dementia
This is the most obvious one, but it’s worth understanding why dementia makes getting lost so dangerous. It’s not just that people forget where they are. The condition affects the brain’s ability to form new memories, recognize familiar places, and make logical decisions about how to get help.
Someone with Alzheimer’s might leave home with a clear purpose in mind, something that made perfect sense to them at that moment. Maybe they’re going to work at a job they retired from fifteen years ago, or heading to their childhood home, or looking for a spouse who passed away. To them, the mission feels urgent and real.
The problem is that as they walk or drive, they lose track of where they started and where they’re going. They might not recognize that they’re lost because they don’t have the cognitive ability to assess their situation accurately. And when well-meaning strangers try to help, the person might become frightened or agitated, insisting they’re fine and know exactly where they’re going.
Research shows that people with dementia who wander have about a 50% chance of serious injury or death if they’re not found within 24 hours. The risks include dehydration, hypothermia or heat stroke depending on weather, injuries from falls, and getting struck by vehicles. Many also stop taking their medications, which can cause additional medical crises on top of the exposure dangers.
This is why devices such as a Life Assure gps tracker for elderly individuals have become more common in families dealing with cognitive decline. When someone does wander, being able to locate them quickly can literally mean the difference between bringing them home safely and a tragedy.
Stroke and Its Lasting Effects on Navigation
People who suffer from stroke or have a stroke attack may have a mental problem because often stroke patients may suffer from mental illness. Which may not be apparent when talking but may cause difficulties when making important decisions.
It often happens that a stroke affects the parts of the brain that are related to navigation. People with this disease cannot judge distance; they do not even know which way they are going or which way they have been going. This is because their eyes cannot see clearly.
Patients suffering from stroke face such situations that their thinking changes and they can leave the house without telling anyone. They can also take a wrong step but no one can guess whether they are doing right or wrong. All this happens because the stroke affects their brain.
The bad news for the family is that such problems can come after some time. Someone suffering from this disease may die after a few weeks, but the family does not know about his illness at first. Most families realize this after a major accident.
Adverse effects of Parkinson’s disease
People don’t usually associate Parkinson’s with getting lost, but the condition often affects cognition in addition to movement. Parkinson’s patients often have difficulty in determining how they are doing and how to navigate their environment.
Cognitive decline that occurs with Parkinson’s affects the part of the brain that makes decisions, making it difficult to make decisions. Someone may leave the house for a short time, but because of the disease, they forget why they left the house.
Physical aspects This disease also affects human movement. When someone gets lost, they may fall while finding their way home and may even get seriously injured. They may tire easily and may have a more profound effect on walking long distances.
Deep effects of influencing the brain
When someone falls, the brain can be affected for a long time after the injury. Even if the injury occurred years ago, the effects can be profound with age. If the injury is not healed, its effects can be felt even after many years. If a person is having trouble doing things even when they are doing well, it is because of a brain injury.
TBI survivors often experience what is called a topographical disorder, which is the part of the brain that struggles to make mental maps. If someone wants to go somewhere but can’t remember the way there or can’t recognize a place they have been to many times, it is simply because of their brain injury.
This is a problem that is worsened by the change of routine. A person wants to go somewhere but has to take a certain route, they are completely lost.
Effects on the brain that affect orientation
It has such a profound effect on the brain that people forget their familiarity, which makes people distance themselves from each other. People cannot even recognize their close people, which causes many problems. In this disease, people cannot recognize each other. In this, people even forget their home address.
For this, there are also medicines that affect people’s memory. Its effect is so profound that people forget even familiar paths.
Drugs that have a negative effect on many things
There are many medicines that have a bad effect on people’s health. Just like if an elderly person uses medicine, he feels quite confused later. Sleeping medicines, painkillers and blood pressure medicines can also affect your cognitive decline. People who use a lot of medicines can have a bad effect on their health.
If a person is less sick but he uses a lot of medicines, he can get sicker. This also causes a lot of problems for the family.
When Medical Risk Requires Action
It is important to weigh the medical risks against the risks to dignity and privacy when deciding when to implement GPS. These are for situations that continue to increase. The question is whether GPS is necessary, but when.
Doctors provide help based on the condition, progress, and history. If a person has lost it once, there is a risk of losing it again. If such an event occurs, it is better not to look for evidence or wait, as this can increase the risk further.
The goal is not just to track, it is also important to set up a net so that if there is any danger, it can be detected quickly. For many families dealing with these medical conditions, that safety net makes the difference between supporting independence and requiring constant direct supervision.