The Need
Every day thousands of people are reported missing across the nation. There are many different types of missing persons including those who are lost, injured, or sick such as Alzheimer’s patients.
According the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) as of November 1, 2004 there were 103,774 active missing adult cases on file. Many of the missing adult cases are increasingly related to those suffering with Alzheimer ’s disease. The National Institute’s of Health National Institute on Aging estimated in a 1999 report that up to 4 million people suffer with Alzheimer’s Disease, and the prevalence (the number of people with the disease at any one time) doubles every 5 years beyond age 65. It is also estimated that approximately 360,000 new cases will occur each year, though this number will increase as the population ages.
Since the turn of the century, life expectancies have increased dramatically. More than 34 million people--13 percent of the total population of the United States--are now aged 65 and older. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, this percentage will accelerate rapidly beginning in 2011, when the first baby boomers reach age 65, and will reach 18 percent of the total population by the year 2025.
Approximately 4 million Americans are 85 or older, and in most industrialized countries, this age group is one of the fastest growing segments of the population. The Bureau of the Census estimates that this group will number nearly 8.5 million by the year 2030; some experts who study population trends suggest that the number could be even greater. As more and more people live longer, those impacted by diseases of aging, including AD, will continue to grow. Some studies show that nearly half of all people age 85 and older have some form of dementia.
Senior Safety Net has been designed and created to help locate missing individuals through advanced iris biometric recognition technology.