Dementia - Disorientation and the Contact4Me service

• Wednesday, 16 September 2009

Contact4Me the identification, next of kin and medical alerts notification service is now working with memory clinics in NHS hospitals throughout the UK. These clinics deal with all psycho geriatric illnesses especially Alzheimer’s and dementia. The system has been well received and is being recommended by doctors, nurses, occupational therapists and care workers.

The emergency services arrive to find a person in distress – and unable to tell them who to contact. They may be carrying scarce amounts of identification. It can be any medical emergency, but in cases of early onset dementia a sufferer can often be found lost and confused many miles from home. The people caring for such patients all have stories to tell of how sufferers can travel significant distances before being found. In one particular case that we know of, an elderly gentleman managed to leave his house unnoticed enter the London Tube network and arrive on the street where he was born. He was only reunited with his family at about 2.00 am in the morning after much psychological trauma to them and frequent calls to the police.

The Contact4Me system provides a caring service that notifies members’ loved ones and next of kin after an emergency occurrence. It is generally accepted that it can take the emergency services anything up to five or six hours (and even days) to contact a person’s next of kin. However, Contact4Me can dramatically reduce this time to a matter of minutes.

This system is ideal for vulnerable members of society who may need to be identified and have loved ones contacted fast if they are found lost and bewildered or ill at home. It gives them and their families peace of mind. The service has the benefit of not making vulnerable people more vulnerable as it does not label anyone with any particular disorder.

This is a family orientated system that can be administered by the “head of the family” for all dependants. Packs and update information are sent to and received from this person throughout the year. The system focuses on the fact that the vulnerable will be encouraged to carry as many Contact4Me ID products on their person as possible.

Each member receives membership cards, key fob, weatherproof sticker and other useful items of identification. There are also clothing and shoe labels available from an online store. These all bear the member’s unique number. Adult drivers also receive a printed tax disk holder and adult-non driver members receive a fridge magnet which can also be put by a phone.

Information can be received by calling 0870 389 2299 or online at www.contact4me.com

Steven Salik Director

This press release was distributed via Response Source, a service from Daryl Willcox Publishing, on behalf of Contact4Me. For more information visit http://www.dwpub.com/pressreleasewires