New Technology Development
donaldlloyd
in Business Continuity, Climate Change, COVID-19, Crisis and Emergency Management, Emergency Management, Events, Government, Indigenous, Market Reports, NGO, Search and Rescue
CounterCrisis Tech has integrated MedicAlert Foundation Canada’s Emergency Health Information Database into its IC4W incident management SaaS application, which forms part of the Ground Search and Rescue Incident Command System (GSAR ICS) solution. As a result, both IC4W and the integrated GSAR ICS technology solution can provide onsite first responders with critical lifesaving medical information for lost or missing persons wearing a MedicAlert ID bracelet.
Notably, an increasing percentage of lost or missing persons in Canada suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of dementia. To address this reality of our aging population, MedicAlert’s National Vulnerable Persons Registry, which among other benefits provides an important source of data for ongoing research on wandering behaviour and the societal impact value of its Safe & Found Program.
It is estimated that 12,700 Canadians living with dementia have a critical wandering incident where search and rescue teams are engaged each year. At an average cost of $15,000 per incident (University of Waterloo), this results in a burden to the taxpayer of more than $190 million annually in basic search and rescue costs. This cost burden is expected to double by 2030 as our population ages and Alzheimer’s and other dementias become more prevalent among those 65 years old and older.
The average time it takes a SAR team to find, identify and return a person who wanders is 9 hours (University of Waterloo). When a MedicAlert subscriber has wandered and MedicAlert becomes engaged in the SAR process, the average time for an individual to be returned home is between 2 and 3 hours. This represents very significant annual cost savings to Canadian taxpayers.
Furthermore, in 2023, MedicAlert Canada responded to approximately 500 wandering calls. In 91% of those cases, the person was returned home without any health issues. This figure compares to less than 50% when MedicAlert was not involved, which translates into significantly enhanced SAR outcomes for wandering incidents.
CounterCrisis Tech and MedicAlert are exploring the development of additional technology solutions to leverage the beneficial work MedicAlert is already doing to support wanderers. This focused development work is based on solid research in terms of societal impact value.
Stay safe!
