Maine’s Silver Alert system, designed to get the word out on older residents who go missing as a result of dementia or some other disability, has helped find dozens of people since its inception 11 years ago. This year, it is being used more than ever.

That’s a reminder that wandering is one of the dangers faced by residents in the nation’s oldest state, and that law enforcement is ready to jump into action when a loved one goes missing.

As Maine faces a rise in cases of Alzheimer’s disease, the main cause of dementia, and expands the system to cover more kinds of emergencies, it’s also a good time to recognize we don’t know a whole lot about the effectiveness of Silver Alerts.

The Silver Alert system was established by state legislation in 2010 after a man who had Alzheimer’s disease left his home in southern Maine and went to the northern part of the state looking for a woman he believed to be missing. He was later found dead.

The program has been put into action many times since, with law enforcement using various media outlets and digital road signs to get out the message on a missing person.

Most recently, a Silver Alert was issued for an 81-year-old Abbot woman with dementia, who went missing Tuesday night. She was found safe, according to state police.

The alert was the 21st issued so far this year, after 23 were issued in all of 2020, and just 20 combined in 2018 and 2019, according to a report in the Morning Sentinel published June 24.

The Sentinel reports that officials are unsure of what is driving the spike, though one doesn’t think it has anything to do with the pandemic. Perhaps people just know more about the program, the officials say – the more Silver Alerts that are issued, the more likely it is for someone to use the system in the future.

It’s notable that the state of Florida, which, like Maine, has a big population of older residents, is experiencing a similar uptick in the use of its Silver Alert system. But it is hard to say anything for sure.

We should fill in the blanks. Maine State Police told the Sentinel that it does not track the effectiveness of the Silver Alert system. Is anybody doing so?

The outcomes are certainly reported — the public knows, obviously, when an alert is issued, and law enforcement follow up when the matter is concluded. We know that the subjects of most alerts are found safely, though some end in tragedy.

But there’s a lot we don’t know. Are the subjects of alerts being connected with services that might improve their lives and lower the chance of a repeat? Are there commonalities between cases that could tell us something about how to prevent people from wandering? Is there a place for additional preventative measures, focusing on at-risk situations?

Maybe some of these things are going on in some communities – services related to aging are often fragmented.

But they should be everywhere. As Maine’s population ages, the number of Mainers with dementia will grow.

The Silver Alert program is expanding, too, after a bill passed this session extending the system to any person endangered by weather, environment or intellectual or developmental disability.

Mainers will likely see more of these alerts in the future. They should know that the system is working the best it can.

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