Two Eastern Iowa nursing homes faced combined fines of $17,000 last year for allowing dementia patients to wander away from the facilities, according to an article on The Gazette website.
Both facilities had anti-wandering systems when residents wandered away. The WanderGuard systems used by the facilities sound an alarm if a resident wearing a device approaches. However, neither resident had been judged a wandering risk and they were not wearing devices, citations stated.
On facility subsequently upgraded its security to the Door Guardian system, which requires people entering the building from the outside to push a button for admittance and people on the inside punch in a code to get out.
There are also many GPS-based and cell tower tracking systems that allow care givers to keep tabs on wanderers.
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